The Long County Blue Tide baseball team find themselves in a good position to host a state playoff game for the first time in 25 years after opening their Region 3-AAA slate 3-1.

On Tuesday, March 18, they welcomed in rival Liberty County for the first game of their three-game series and took the opener 12-2.

While things looked murky early on for the Tide, a big second inning and an overall huge night for senior Kenny Pickens led them to a dominant victory.

A sacrifice fly plated Liberty County’s Glemon English with the first run in the top of the first inning, but the Tide tied it 1-1 as a wild pitch allowed Nick Sizemore to score.

Sizemore drew a bases-loaded walk in the second to give the Tide a 2-1 lead and that opened the floodgates.

Creighton Rogers singled to bring home two runs and Pickens cleared the bases on a double to make the score 6-1 going into the third inning.

The Tide had a chance to add to their lead after back-to-back singles from Isaiah Miller and Bramwell, but both were caught stealing to end the inning.

Pickens extended the lead in the fourth, launching a two-run homer over the centerfield wall to make it 8-1.

The Panthers got a run back in the sixth when a bases-loaded hit batter brought in English.

Liberty committed two errors to open the bottom of the sixth, leading to a run. Rogers delivered a run-scoring single for a 10-2 lead and Pickens raced around the bases for an inside-the-park homer, ending the game.

Pickens finished the night 3-for-4 with two home runs and six RBIs, a single game record for the Blue Tide. He also had four strikeouts and one earned run in four innings of work on the mound.

He recognized his early struggles, an error in the top of the first and a looking strikeout in the bottom, but he shook it off.

“Well, my first inning on the mound, I kind of got in my own head,” Pickens said. “We had an error out in right field and allowed that run and then I strike out looking. You gotta acknowledge those too. After that, turned it around. Just found my pace, went out there and played the game of baseball. Played hard and have fun, stuff like that happens.”

The Tide are now 9-5 and 3-1 in region play while the Panthers are 8-7 and 0-4 in region play. They will play in Hinesville on Thursday, March 20 before closing out the region series in Ludowici on Friday.