JUSTIN HALL

The 2019 season came to an unceremonious end this past Saturday for the Lexington County Blowfish.

They fell to the Florence Redwolves 7-5 in 7 innings on the final night of the season. For Florence, it was a punctuation point after getting awarded the I-20 Rivalry Series trophy before the game.

The RedWolves clinched the series 2 weeks ago thanks in part to a winning record over Lexington County.

The Blowfish ended the season on a 7-game losing streak and finished with a 15-34 mark.

“This season, we weren’t able to get the breaks to go our way injury-wise,” Lexington County head coach Marshall McDonald said after the game. “We were in a great spot 10 games into the second half, but we weren’t able to tread water like we needed to to keep ourselves in the race.”

Lexington County achieved several marks this season, mostly at the plate. The Blowfish hit 31 home runs this season, 1 shy of tying the single-season team record.

Houston Wright hit 8 of those home runs, while also recording 50 hits in over 200 at-bats. Infielder James McConnon finished with the highest batting average on the team, hitting .316 on the season.

Defensively, catcher Jared Kirven of Lexington High School was one of the top fielders on the team, along with McConnon. The two combined for just 4 errors on the season.

Pitchers Jared Drayton and Shane Connolly anchored the Blowfish’s staff. Drayton finished tied for the most wins by a pitcher

(3), while Connolly started nine games.

Despite recording only 2 wins, Connolly had the most quality outings for Blowfish pitchers this season.

The final record was certainly not where the Blowfish believed they would be before the season started.

On a positive note, a total of 38,800 fans walked through the gates at Lexington County Baseball Stadium to enjoy the festivities in a season which paid homage to the South Carolina State Fair.

This included a jersey auction this past Saturday with proceeds going towards the S.C. State Fair Scholarship Program.

“The season of the Lexington County Fair was a great success,” General Manager Theo Bacot told me. “It’s hard to believe it’s already over, but we’re excited for next year and the 2020 season already.”