Playing the “spoiler role” is where the Lexington County Blowfish found itself Friday night at Sparrow Stadium.

It looked to halt the Florence RedWolves’ late season push for a playoff berth out of the Coastal Plain League South Division.

With one swing of the bat, Griffin Hulecki “spoiled” the Blowfish’s plans. Leading off the bottom 9th, Hulecki’s solo home run over the leftfield wall off reliever Colton Rendon helped Florence hand the Blowfish a 5-4 defeat.

The contest was a microcosm of 2018 for Lexington County (17-31, 9-15), which played its final road game of the season.  It reached the century mark in errors on the season with three, including one which allowed the RedWolves to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth.

A quartet of Florence pitchers also combined to strike out 19 Lexington County batters. Four Lexington County players each accounted for three strikeouts and the Blowfish were outhit 10-6.

A 2-run homer by Ben Peden gave Florence a 2-0 lead. The Blowfish loaded the bases in the top 2nd and C.J. Smith scored on a wild pitch by Colby Lee.

Peden drove in his third run in the bottom 3rd with a sacrifice fly. The score was set up by the Blowfish’s 98th error of the season on an errant throw by catcher Tyler Haselmen.

Lexington County loaded the bases again in the fourth and Chris Clary drew an RBI walk to make it 3-2.

A double steal enabled the Blowfish to tie the game in the sixth. With two outs, Jared Williams of Gilbert managed to avoid getting tagged out long enough for Chris Clary to race home.

Lexington County took the lead in the top 8th on a throwing error by second baseman Chris Cline.

The Blowfish returned the favor in the bottom half of the inning. Williams fielded a groundball at third base by Brody Gibson, but his errant throw allowed Bryson Smith to score and tie the game at 4-4.

The miscue was also the 100th of the season for Lexington County, marking the second time since 2015 it had reached that milestone.

Florence (22-25, 8-15) 8-ended the game an inning later and gave the Blowfish a final road mark of 9-14.

Lexington County closes out the 2018 season at 7:05 p.m. Saturday against the Macon Bacon. The Bacon need a win and a Florence loss to Savannah to make the post-season.

It’s Community Appreciation Night presented by B106.7 FM, the Lexington County Chronicle and Carolina Heating and Air.

Following the game, the winners of the “Proud to be an American” jersey auction will be announced. To register to bid, text “blowfish” to 79230 or visit qtego.net/qlink/blowfish. Proceeds benefit local veterans who have a need for a service dog -as dollars raised by the Blowfish from this auction will go to help train dogs.

In addition, Lexington County will hold its final "Concert in the Sky" ith music from Katy Perry, Zed and Justin Timberlake.  Community Appreciation Night is being presented by B106.7, the Lexington County Chronicle and Carolina Comfort Heating & Air.