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Long drops game to Tattnall
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Long County’s Brandon Smith digs in at the plate in the Tide’s 9-4 loss to Tattnall County on Monday. - photo by Photo by Mike Riddle
REIDSVILLE — The Long County Blue Tide baseball team continued to battle the injury bug in Monday night’s game against the Tattnall County Battle Creek Warriors, losing 9-4.
In the game, Tattnall jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first inning, and by the end of the fourth it was 8-1, with the Warriors well in front.  
The Blue Tide managed to score three more runs in the fifth and sixth innings, but by the end of the game, the Battle Creek boys had won their first game of the season 9-4.
One of the key plays of the game, which turned the tide against the Blue Tide, was when Blake Strickland twisted his ankle trying to make it to second base. Already having fluid on his elbow, the Long County player had to go to the emergency for X-rays after the injury.  
“Fortunately, Blake didn’t break anything, but he did twist it pretty bad,” LC coach Wayne Sasser said. “We are playing it by ear now as to when he can play. He may be able to catch for us on Friday, and if nothing else, he will be our DH (designated hitter) in the game.”
Sasser and the Tide have had more than their share of injuries early in the season. Starting pitcher, Stetson Strickland, has already went down with an injury to the elbow of his pitching arm, but according to Sasser will be back on the field soon.
“Stetson hurt his elbow, and he wont be able to pitch, but we are pretty sure he will be able to play pretty soon,” Sasser said. “It doesn’t appear to be as bad as everyone thought it was, and he will probably be at first base.”
Sasser also said, that he expected to lose some games early in the season, because he and the coaching staff wanted to evaluate the players thoroughly, so that he would be able to put the right players where they needed to be.
“We had several boys come in late, due to them playing basketball, and we have been playing just about everybody, in different positions to see what we had, and a lot of them have been younger players too,” Sasser said. “We know Brandon (Simmons) and Blake (Strickland) are going to be two of our starting pitchers, and we still have the game tonight to look at few more, before our first region game on Friday.”
The Blue Tide traveled to Jesup on Tuesday night to take on the Wayne County Yellow Jackets, but results from the game were not available in time for press.
Long County plays Pierce County on Friday in Ludowici at 5:30 p.m..  This will be the Tide’s first Region 2-AA game of the year.  The Bears have an overall record of 4-1, and are 1-0 in the region. The Tide brings a 1-5 overall record into the game.

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