The Long County Blue Tide baseball team got a much-needed region win on Tuesday, March 24 as they took on the Southeast Bulloch Yellow Jackets. The game was close in the first few innings before the Tide pulled away in the middle innings to get the big 9-3 win over the region rival.

Sophomore Dallen Strickland gave the Blue Tide a 1-0 lead with a lead-off homer in the bottom of the second inning, the first of his career. Strickland crushed the first pitch of the inning for a homer over the left field wall.

“I was looking for a gap and I thought I just barrelled one up for a double, but it just kept going,” Strickland said.

Dylan Lester was hit by a pitch with two outs, and Charlie Johnson singled to center. Lester advanced to third base on the single, and the throw to third rolled into the dugout, allowing Lester to score and Johnson to move up.

That 2-0 lead evaporated quickly, as the Yellow Jackets scored two runs in the top of the third.

Peyton Batt’s double in bottom of the inning put runners on second and third. Another throwing miscue and Jehmiel Pettis’ groundout put Long County back in front 4-2.

Kolton Pickens’ double brought in Luke Poppell, who singled, for a 5-2 lead.

Dalton Lester singled to open the bottom of the fourth before Chambless scored him on a double. Chambless’ courtesy runner scored on a passed ball as the Tide led 7-2 and eventually 9-3 going into the sixth inning after the Jackets added one on a sacrifice fly in the fifth. 

In the bottom of the fifth, Poppell led off with a single before Pickens walked. With two outs, Poppell scored on a passed ball before Lester singled to score Pickens.

After last week’s “emotional” loss to Liberty County, head coach James Hobbs was excited about how his team bounced back.

“I thought we responded very well to the loss against Liberty,” Hobbs said. “The Liberty loss was emotional for us because the effort was there, it just wasn’t our day. We came back and had two good practices and responded exactly how I wanted to respond. I feel good about that going into Thursday.”

The Tide are now 10-5 and 6-1 in region play. They look to complete the sweep of the Jackets on Thursday, March 26 in Brooklet.