The Coastal Plain League season is relentless.

For college athletes who just finished their respective seasons, it’s a grind that many didn’t expect when they signed to play.

For the Lexington County Blowfish, the first half of the season was marred by injuries, mercy rules, and 3 walk-off losses. With just 7 wins, Lexington County scuffled through the month of June.

The Savannah Bananas clinched the first half South Division at Lexington County Baseball Stadium on June 29. It was their 11th consecutive victory at The Lex.

Lexington County opened the second half of the season on July 1st on the road in Gastonia. The Blowfish outscored the Grizzlies 12-10 to start 1-0 in the second half.

A 12-8 loss at home against the Macon Bacon evened the Blowfish's mark, but the team looked completely different than the one in the first half.

“The addition of (Ian) Jenkins has really sparked our lineup,” head coach Marshall McDonald said. “When Houston Wright, James McConnon, and Zacchaeus Rasberry are ‘on’ and then you add him to the lineup, we become very tough to beat.”

Lexington County won 3 of their next 4 games last week to start 4-2 in the second half and trailed Florence by 1/2 game for 1st place in the South Division.

The biggest difference in the wins last week? It had to be the consistent offensive output. The Blowfish scored 33 runs in six games, including two separate double-digit games.

Wright was 3rd in the league in home runs (8), Top 5 in the league in RBI (26), and holds a batting average over .300. In fact, prior to this week’s slate of games, Lexington County had five starters batting over .300.

“Our offense has found its groove,” McDonald said. “We’re seeing the ball really well out of the pitcher’s hand, we’re turning on pitches that are hitting the inner half and we’re hitting the ball really hard into the gaps. It’s really allowed our confidence to sky-rocket.”

A league-worst earned run average well over 6 in the first half needed to change heading into the second half.

On July 4th and July 5th, Brett Fulk and Bennett Nance pitched their hearts out, allowing their offense to play with the lead against the Bananas and the Bacon.

“Our starting rotation is starting to settle in,” pitching coach Shawn Torbett told me. “Brett, Shane, Bennett, those guys pitched really well last week as starters. Our bullpen relief was fantastic to keep us in front; Jacob Rye, Zach Williams both provided strong outings out of the bullpen in wins. We just need to keep our pitching staff intact and sticking to their roles.”

Everything has mostly gone right for Lexington County entering All-Star Weekend in Savannah, Ga. Speaking of the All-Star Showdown, Wright, James McConnell and Michael Green were selected to play in Savannah as part of the South All-Star team.

The Blowfish have 6 games this week, including trips to Savannah and Macon (a place they’ve won two games in a row). It starts with a split squad contest Thursday with one team traveling to Savannah and another playing host to the Catawba Valley Stars in the 2nd exhibition of the season between the two teams.

UPCOMING BLOWFISH GAMES

(All Games Start at 7:05 p.m.) 

THURSDAY - CATAWBA VALLEY STARS

                       at Savannah

FRIDAY - at Florence

SATURDAY - FLORENCE

TUESDAY - at Macon

WEDNESDAY - at Savannah