SETH – The Sherman Tide improved to 5-9 on the season with a pair of wins last week.

Freshman Matt Long has been a main contributor for the maroon-and-gold squad all season with his arm and his bat.

Sherman 6, Liberty-Raleigh 3

With a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning, junior Jonathon Bowman and sophomore Jake Halstead found it opportunistic to blast their first career home runs in back-to-back fashion to give the Tide the lead and the win.

“It was a great game,” Sherman coach Tony Tagliente said. “They are one of our rivals, ranking up there with Scott and Van.”

Along with Bowman's and Halstead’s home runs, junior Joe Morgan went 2-3 with a double and a run scored. Long went 1-3 with a double.

“We were back and forth the whole game,” Tagliente said. “It made for an exciting atmosphere.”

Senior Ben Hapney picked up the complete-game win, his first of the season. He gave up three runs on eight hits while striking out eight batters.

“We really got some great innings out of Ben,” Tagliente said. “He had them guessing all night long and we played some great defense behind him.”

Sherman 7, Westside 5

The Tide was down 4-0 in the early innings but used miscues by the Renegades to rally for the win.

“We got down early, but the guys didn’t give up," Tagliente said. "They started making some errors and giving up walks, and we took the opportunity to score some runs. We also stole seven stolen bases and had some key hits to give us the lead.”

Long picked up his third win of the year in complete-game fashion, giving up five runs on seven hits while striking out nine.

“Matt threw the ball very well,” Tagliente said. “He had them fooled all night and our defense was making plays behind him.”

Senior Jeff Elian went 2-4 with a two-run home run, his third of the season. Halstead went 2-4. Freshman B.D. Banks recorded his first career hit and added an RBI.

“They beat us earlier in the year 6-1,” Tagliente said. “It was nice to come back later in the year and return the favor.”