The Long County Blue Tide baseball team secured a win in their first region series of the season when they welcomed in the Islands Sharks on Thursday, March 13.

After a 16-3 dismantling of the Sharks in five innings on Tuesday, Thursday’s game was a much more competitive game that saw the Tide make contact on the ball but not have much luck getting on base for the first half of the game in a 6-2 win.

Freshman shortstop Kolton Pickens blooped a single into shallow right field, scoring Jehmiel Pettis to give the Tide a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.

Nick Sizemore did not allow a hit in the third or fourth inning before the Tide came back up to the plate in the bottom of the fourth.

Isaiah Miller led off with a single before Pettis put two on with a single of his own. Dylan Lester brought home Miller on a single to give the Tide a 2-0 lead before Pickens walked to load the bases with one out.

Luke Poppell was hit by a pitch and Nick Sizemore was walked to make the score 4-0 with still just one out on the board.

Creighton Rogers hit a high fly ball to centerfield to score another run on a sacrifice fly as the Tide held a 5-0 lead going into the fifth.

Sizemore had his worst inning of the night as he allowed two hits and walked two, one with the bases loaded, to allow two runs for the Sharks.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Tide loaded the bases again with just one out. Miller and Pettis were both hit by a pitch before Lester was walked followed by a Braedon Chambless pinch hit walk to give the Tide their sixth run of the game.

Up 6-2 in the sixth, Kenny Pickens took over on the mound for Sizemore and was solid the rest of the game, allowing no hits and getting two strikeouts.

Head coach James Hobbs was happy with the team’s defensive efforts on the night, specifically Sizemore and Pickens on the mound.

“I gotta brag on Nick and Kenny, man,” Hobbs said. “They’re dogs out there on the mound. I mean, you couldn’t ask for more out of them.”

This also gets them back on track after a three-game losing skid to move them to 8-4 and 2-0 in region play.

Hobbs is happy with the work the team has put in and said the staff is glad the players took their advice of not taking “a pitch off” and turned it back into wins. However, they are taking things “one game at a time.”

“We are focused on Friday and then we will worry about Liberty next week. We can’t take them for granted,” Hobbs said of the Liberty County Panthers, the Tide’s next week opponent. “They beat Tattnall last week, so they are much better than what they have been. It’s a big series for us next week.”

Islands salvaged a win in the series, scoring five times in the seventh inning to pull out a 6-5 win.