After a nine-inning battle against the Islands Sharks on Monday, April 3, the Long County Blue Tide baseball team got a bit of a break when they welcomed in region foe Groves, sweeping the Rebels 15-0 and 16-0 for their sixth straight win.

The Tide allowed just one hit and one walk across the six innings of play in both games. Both the hit and the walk came in the first inning of Game 1 before Elijah Lester sat down two Rebels with strikeouts.
Shannon Filkins led off the first with a double before the Tide scored 12 runs, nearly going through the lineup twice in the process.

Giovanni Jackson and Nick Sizemore both recorded RBI singles before Kenny Pickens blasted a run-scoring double.

Landon Runyon hit an inside-the-park home run on a shot to the right field fence as the Tide went up 5-0 before the Rebels recorded an out.

Filkins drew a bases-loaded walk for the sixth run before Jackson doubled to bring in two more. Sizemore recorded a RBI on a sacrifice fly and Jackson scored the 10th run on a wild pitch.

Ryder Dawson brought in the last two runs on a single.

Wyatt Huston pinch hit for Jackson and scored fellow freshman Dylan Lester on a single. Peyton Batt recorded a sacrifice RBI and Anthony Bramwell hit a RBI single.

In the second game, Filkins and Jackson each singled to open the inning, the latter on a bunt up the third base line. Filkins was caught trying to steal home but after two hit batters, Jackson stole home to score the first run. Sizemore scored on a wild pitch, Runyon brought home a run on a single and Roderick Randall recorded a sacrifice RBI.

Elijah Lester and Creighton Rogers each singled for the fifth and sixth runs of the inning.

The Tide scored 10 runs in the second inning, with run-scoring singles from Batt and Ryder, a bases-loaded hit batter and Rogers’ two-run double starting the rally.

FIlkins followed with a two-run single. The younger Lester singled to score another run before Runyon walked with the bases loaded and Dawson brought home the 16th run of the game with a single.

With the pair of wins, the Tide move to 16-7 and 7-3 in the region. They will play at Bryan County on April 12 and play in the final region series of the season against Calvary Day on April 18 and April 20.

If the Tide sweep the Cavaliers, the Tide likely will be the second seed in the state playoffs. If they can take one of the games against the Cavaliers and the Liberty County Panthers defeat the Savannah Country Day Hornets in one of the games, the Tide likely will take the three seed.