Bradwell traveled to Long County High School where the Tigers washed down the Blue Tide, 7-2, on Wednesday afternoon — payback for the Blue Tide’s 8-1 victory over the Tigers on March 22.
Long County baseball coach Brian Thomas pointed out a big difference between this game and the Tide’s first outing against the Tigers.
“The difference was that we were unable to capitalize on some early scoring opportunities, and Bradwell did a good job of scoring runs when they had their chances,” he said. “Other than that, it was a well-played game by both teams.”
According to Tiger coach Rhett Hellgren, Mitch Rogers commanded the mound, tossing 87 pitches but giving up only two walks.
“Mitch pitched as well as I have seen him in three years of pitching,” Hellgren said. “He was hitting his spots all night, and the two runs he did give up were unearned.”
More importantly, Hellgren said his team kept the ball in play by hitting toward the ground. BI boys only four pop-ups.
“When we hit the ball on the ground, good things happen, and that is exactly what happened here,” Hellgren said. “We had some hits and they had some errors, but that is what you are supposed to do in high school baseball — put the ball in play and run like there is no tomorrow.”
Hellgren said the return of Matt Brown to the lineup also helped his team. Brown was out a few weeks with a hamstring injury.
“Matt did save us a few times at first with some great picks,” Hellgren said. “It is good to have him back in the lineup.  DaBrent Nobles did the perfect squeeze. … There is nothing prettier than that when executed perfectly.  What we need now is to have more consistency.”
Hellgren said the BI boys did what the coaching staff asked of them — throw strikes and put the ball in play. He said they need to play a complete game this weekend when the boys travel to Kingsland and play Region 3-AAAAA leader Camden County.
The Tigers are 10-8 overall and 8-3 in the region. Benedictine holds the No. 2 spot with Jenkins in third.
Long County falls to 5-13 overall and 1-9 in Region 2-AA.