The Long County Blue Tide baseball team has been one of the most consistent sports programs since head coach James Hobbs’ arrival in 2018. They have been a contender in region play and a playoff team every year since and the 2025 season looks to be more of the same for them.

Things will look different for the Tide as far as their region goes. With the reclass cycle last year, Region 3-AAA changed with it, losing private schools Savannah Christian and Savannah Country Day and gaining baseball contenders Southeast Bulloch and Islands.

Hobbs is still unsure how this and the change of the playoff format to power rankings will affect the team, but he knows one thing: every game is now that much more important.

“It didn’t change anything as far as what we do schedule wise,” Hobbs said. “You know, we’ve always played pretty tough teams. So, in that aspect, it hasn’t changed, other than now there’s no such thing as a game that’s not important. Even the non-region games now have huge weight on them because if you win those games, you’re racking up points all year long compared to if you lose those games, it’s big now.”

Hobbs touched on the 2024 season where they lost Nick Sizemore to an arm injury early in the year and then-senior Landon Runyon was banged up most of the season dealing with several injuries.

He said that the younger pitchers had to step up throughout the season and they have more experience on the mound. The team already lost Peyton Batt for the year with a shoulder injury.

“Last year kind of prepared us for (injuries) and we got Nick back this year. He’s already throwing live and he looks really good,” Hobbs said.

He mentioned some other big arms who return this year after stepping up in 2024. Anthony Bramwell, Dylan Lester, and Peyton Pilon should all be able to contribute big innings on the mound with Kenny Pickens also carrying a lot of the load for the Tide.

Batting was a strong part of the team’s success last season and Hobbs said they have had to find hitters to replace players such as Jamison Thomas and Roderick Randall, who “tore it up for us” and will be “hard to replace” according to Hobbs.

“We lost some big bats and that’s one concern we’ve had going into this year. Our question was ‘who’s going to step up for us?’,” Hobbs said. “We’ve seen good things so far. Isaiah Miller had to step up for us last year as a DH for us a lot of times and he’s now going to be a middle of the lineup kind of guy for us.”

Hobbs talked about a new addition to the team in Florida transfer Jeh’miel Pettis, who Hobbs described as “a true switch hitter.” Pickens will likely lead the way at the clean up spot throughout the season and Creighton Rogers received praise for his work last season.

“We got Creighton Rogers, who last year was a bottom-of-the-lineup guy for us, kind of like a second leadoff down there. He put together some really tough at-bats, quality at-bats. I think he’s going to be up there toward the front of the leadoff position,” Hobbs said.

Toughness was the name of the game for Hobbs when asked what he expected out of the team this year.

“I just want to be tough,” Hobbs said. “If we do the little things right and put together tough at-bats and make routine plays and we don’t give freebies, I think we can play with anybody any day. That’s always been our philosophy. If we can play tough, we’re hard nosed and we can play with anybody.”

One goal that Tide fans seem to have every year is to be able to play a playoff game at home, something they have not done in close to 25 years. Hobbs said that the way their region shook out this year, it is going to be imperative to win the region games that matter.

The region went back to three-game series as opposed to two-game series the last few seasons and the region has been subdivided.

“The region is subdivided into, and I hate to say it this way, ‘Savannah schools’ and ‘baseball schools’,” Hobbs said. “We did it that way on purpose because of power rankings… it really works out the best for us. At the end, we will have a region crossover where the 1 and 4 seeds and 2 and 3 seeds from each side play each other and then you will have a region championship game.”

In the Tide’s subregion is Calvary Day, a private power from the last few seasons, Southeast Bulloch, who comes down from 4A, where they were 17-11 and the three seed from a tough region last year, Islands, a Savannah school that usually has a tough baseball program, and Liberty County, who Hobbs described as “scrappy.”

The Tide likely will have to finish in the top two of the region to guarantee a spot in the top 16 of the state and secure a home game in the first round of the state playoffs.

The Blue Tide will scrimmage Wayne County on Thursday, February 6 before opening the regular season on Tuesday, February 11 against Bacon County.