Thursday was an extra long day for the Lexington County Blowfish and its home fans. 
What was slated as a doubleheader against the Macon Bacon with Game 2 scheduled for 7 innings turned into 16 1/2 total innings of baseball played at Lexington County Baseball Stadium. 
Unfortunately for the home fans, both games ended in disappointment. 
The Blowfish needed just 1 win Thursday to set up a "winner take all" for the Southern Summer Ball Series cup Saturday night at home against the Savannah Bananas Saturday at home. 
Following a doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Bacon,  the Blowfish find themselves 1 loss away from losing out on the trophy.
The lack of offensive firepower with the departures of the University of South Carolina players was evident in both loses. Donning the Pancakes jersesys, Lexington County stranded 12 baserunners in the 5-3 Game 1 loss to the Bacon. 
The Pancakes were also held to 6 hits and struck out 12 times in the continuation of Sunday's game halted by rain in the 3rd inning. They forced extra innings after tying the game 3-3 in the bottom of the 8th on an RBI single by Joshua Hernandez.
Coastal Plain League extra inning rules called for each team to start their respective at bat with baserunners on 1st and 2nd. The Bacon quickly capitalized off a balk which advanced the baserunners and took a 4-3 read on Cassius Young's RBI single.
A wild pitch by Lexington County reliever Will Abbot scored the 2nd baserunner and the Pancakes were retired in order to end the game. 
Lexington County's offensive woes continued in Game 2. The Blowfish struck out 13 times and stranded the same number of baserunners and managed just 5 hits in 9 innings.
The Blowfish jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the Bottom 2nd. Starter R.J. Petit of Charleston Southern struck out 10 batters, but an error at shortstop to lead off the top of the 4th led to a 2-run rally by the Bacon.
Lexington County had an opportunity for victory when the contest extended past 7 innings. The Blowfish had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th, but Brennan Reback struck out to end the inning.
Macon erupted for 6 runs off reliever Zachary Iverson to take a 8-2 lead in the top of the 9th. Lexington County could only muster a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. It was the 4th straight win at Lexington County Baseball Stadium for the Bacon (22-20, 13-13, 4-7) dating back to last season. 
The winner of the Southern Summer Ball Series Cup is based on the 2nd half of the season's winning percentage in division. The Blowfish (21-13, 7-10, 4-4) need a victory Friday at Luther Williams Field in Macon to have a chance to win the cup Saturday against the Bananas (21-13, 16-13, 8-5).