The Long County Blue Tide baseball team has not hosted a playoff game since 2003. They are on the right track to doing just that for the 2024 season after a 2-1 win over No. 2-ranked Savannah Christian on Tuesday.

Senior pitcher Landon Runyon was a big part of the Tide’s win over the Raiders as he pitched a complete game and struck out 10.

Runyon struck out the first three Raiders he faced in the first inning and Jai Thomas got things started in the bottom of the first on a single. He was moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Shannon Filkins.

With two outs, Kenny PIckens just beat out a throw to first base, and Thomas rounded third for home. He was thrown out at the plate, ending the threat.

Runyon allowed two hits in the second, but held the Raiders off the scoreboard. In the bottom of the second, the Tide put two runners on with no out but failed to score.

The Tide broke through in the third on Pickens’ RBI and Roderick Randall’s run-scoring single

Runyon hit a batter, walked another and allowed two hits in a row to load the bases in the top of the fifth before the Raiders forced across a run.

A foul out kept the score at 2-1 with two outs for the Raiders, bases still loaded. Rogers made arguably the play of the night as he caught a fly ball in centerfield and his throw reached home plate, giving Pickens the tag to preserve the 2-1 lead for the Tide.

Solid defensive play from Bramwell and two more strikeouts for Runyon in the sixth held the Raiders off the board going into the final inning.

Runyon did the heavy lifting in the seventh as he got two Raider batters looking.

With the win, the Tide moved to 8-4 and 1-0 in Region 3-AAA play.