It was a marriage made on the Lexington County Baseball Stadium diamond.

Ending last season a game away from a Petitt Cup playoff berth was more than enough incentive for Fico Kondla to return for a 2nd season as Lexington County Blowfish head coach.

At the same time, the organization wanted to bring back the Newberry College assistant and former Coker College standout who led the Blowfish to a winning record in his 1st season.

No wonder Lexington County co-owner Bill Shanahan called it a “no-brainer” the announcement confirming Kondla’s return for the 2022 season.

“We agreed almost immediately,” Shanahan said. “He wanted to come back and we wanted him back. We were elated with his coaching skills, his styles, his coaching ability and the respect the players had for him.”

“I had a really good experience during the summer,” Kondla said. “I just felt like we left some unfinished business that we want to get done this summer.”

After a slow 1st half, the Blowfish rebounded to post a winning record in the 2nd half. The 14-8 record was good for 2nd place in the 2nd half, 3 games behind eventual CPL champion Savannah.

The Blowfish also posted 3 wins against the Bananas during the 2nd half after going winless in the 1st half. Kondla credited the team buying into his system of “playing cleaner baseball” for the turnaround.

Lexington County finished with a 24-19 record, marking the 1st time since the team moved from Columbia in had posted back-to-back winning seasons. Despite the winning record, the Blowfish missed the post-season by a half-game as High Point-Thomasville earned the 2nd West Division playoff berth.

The Hi-Toms and Wilmington are included on this year’s 51-game schedule. Lexington County will play 24 games at home and away and 3 against the Catawba Valley Stars. The season-opener is May 26, 2022 at home against the Macon Bacon.

Kondla believes a better start and pulling out the close games which escaped Lexington County this past season is key to making the playoffs for the 1st time since 2015.

The Blowfish should be aided by the possible return of as many as 13 players. In addition, the team has signed Josh Hernandez and Grant Bodison from defending NCCAA national champion Columbia International coached by former Lexington County head coach Jonathan Johnson.

“We’re bringing back the right type of guys that wanted to be there all summer, that fit our style and that wanted to get after it,” Kondla said. “It’s very important to have that key nucleus that understand the summer, that understand how I go about the business and understands the expectations that those guys can pass that on to the new guys and get everyone else to buy into the culture.”

Visit www.blowfishbaseball.com for the latest Blowfish news and ticket information.