It was a festive Friday night of baseball at the old Lexington County Baseball Stadium as the Blowfish hosted its annual  Fourth of July game and fireworks show. 

The game was a friendly scrimmage among the team. The group split into two and played as the Glowfish and the Blowfish in front of a packed crowd, excited to celebrate the country’s founding. 

The contest was shortened to seven innings and the winners got bragging rights over their companions. 

It was an exciting and chaotic match that saw the Blowfish build a 4-0 lead before the Glowfish came storming back. 

The Glowfish took the lead in the fifth inning after scoring five runs and held it until the end of the game. The Blowfish fought hard to extend the game in the bottom of the seventh, scoring five runs of their own, but were still two down, losing 11-9.

Following their holiday friendly, the Blowfish came back together and hit the road for their regularly scheduled league games. 

The team traveled to Florence to play another game against the Flamingos. The Blowfish trailed 4-1 through three innings but came from behind to win 11-10 in extra innings. 

Parker Mergo hit a single to center field in the top of the ninth to tie the game. Mergo finished the game with two runs scored and two RBIs. 

The Blowfish held the Flamingos scoreless in the bottom half of the inning to force extras. 

In the 10th inning, Lexington County scored three runs off hits from Matthew Rollison and Ty Marshall. This gave the blowfish an 11-8 lead and put pressure on Florence to score in the inning’s bottom half. 

The Flamingos got close and scored two runs, but failed to cross a third runner to tie the game and force an 11th inning. 

The win gave the Blowfish their sixth win in eight meetings against Florence. The teams have five more meetings against each other this season, meaning the Blowfish need to just win one more game to clinch the season series. 

This week will be a short one for the team. The league’s All-Star festivities were held July 6-7, with six blowfish players qualifying for the events.  Brandon Gibbs, Zach Cowart, Nick DiCarlo,  Blake Martin,  Andrew Ortiz and Ty Marshall were the players chosen to represent Lexington County. 

DiCarlo participated in the outfield frozen ropes challenge, an event where outfielders try to accurately throw a ball from the outfield to a target. Gibbs competed in the fastest man competition. Head coach Michael Menhart was on the West All-Star coaching staff as an assistant. 

Lexington County was set to return to normal competition on July 9 with another game against Florence. Thunderstorms and rain delayed the contest, though. 

The team will instead take the field on July 10 with a road game against Forrest City. The Blowfish also have games against Macon and Boone this week. 

The Blowfish are 1.5 games back from the top of the conference standings. Each game down the stretch has the potential to move the team up and down. 

With 19 games left to go this season, the Blowfish will look to make a run and earn a spot in their third consecutive league championship series.