The Blowfish puffed up their win- ning streak last week after going 3-0 against Coastal Plains League opponents.

Lexington County has won seven of its last eight games and is in first place of the league’s western division for the second half of the season. Last week, the team beat Boone, Macon and Holly Springs. The Blowfish also held its an- nual Fourth of July fish fry in- ter-squad exhibition.

The week started with a continua- tion of the previous week after the Blowfish blew out Boone 15-5 for its third 10-plus run win in the last four games.

The win over the Bigfoots came in the third and final meeting between the two this season. The teams split the previous two games back in June with the home team winning each time.

Lexington hosted the tie-breaking game and kept the series true to form. The Blowfish were more successful from the plate and played clean de- fense to secure the win.

Three Blowfish players hit a home run. Coastal Carolina’s Walker Mitch- ell put the team’s first points on the board with a two-run shot in the first inning.

Clemson’s Ty Marshall tied the game at four in the second inning with a two-run homer that brought Rad- ford’s Jhonkeanu Perez to home plate. Georgia Southern’s Zach Cowart had the final home run, which came in the eighth inning and scored two.

Marshall finished with five RBIs and Michigan State’s Sam Busch had two without hitting a home run.

Four pitchers played for the Blow- fish. USC Aiken’s Cade Bouknight got the start but struggled, giving up four hits, four runs and two walks against nine batters in one inning of work. Georgia Southern’s Landry Mead came in relief and was much more successful, pitching for four innings and giving up one hit, one walk, no runs with three strikeouts.

Spartanburg Methodist’s Davis Wright was awarded the win after pitching two innings. The Citadel’s Maddox Webb closed, pitching the final inning and gave up no hits, no runs and one walk to seal the win.

The team’s next outing was against the Bacon from Macon. The game was close with the score changing multiple times in the final five innings of a 7-6 Blowfish win.

It appeared the Blowfish were on their way to another easy win, jump- ing ahead 5-0 through three innings. But the Bacon quickly turned things around and evened the score by the end of the fifth inning.

From there it was back and forth. The Blowfish jumped back on top when Cowart singled in the sixth in- ning. But Macon responded in the sev- enth with a run.

Troy’s Jakob Wax scored the final go-ahead run in the eighth inning when a wild pitch allowed him to cross home. The Blowfish defense held strong in the ninth and Presbyterian’s Sean Hollister earned the win after finishing on the mound.

The success carried into Lexington’s third and final league game of the week against the Holly Spring Sala- manders out of the eastern division. The Blowfish were scheduled to play a game in Macon on July 6 but it was canceled because of rain.

Holly Springs and Lexington played in a game that was pretty one-sided for most of the game. The Blowfish jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, which grew to a 5-0 lead before the Sal- amanders scored their first run in the eighth inning.

The Salamanders held Lexington scoreless in the bottom of the innings and went into the ninth with an oppor- tunity to tie the game or face defeat. The Blowfish were having none of that and quickly squashed any comeback dreams by getting all three batters out in nine pitches.

The win secured Lexington its fourth in a row and improved the team’s record to 7-2 in the second half of the year. The team ended its week with a bang, playing a Fourth of July exhibition against themselves in the annual fish fry.

The team split into two, the Glowfish and the Brewfish and played a sev- en-inning match followed by fireworks and Dippin’ Dots. The Glowfish easily defeated the Brewfish shutting them out until the final inning when the Brewfish were awarded an extra bat- ting opportunity.

The event was a spectacle for the fans and meant to be a fun match among teammates. The results were secondary to the celebration of free- dom and America.