The most anticipated, patriotic season in the four years the Blowfish have called Lexington County home is here.

From a new manager, new players who call Chronicle Country home to the Coastal Plain League All-Star Show in July, the season of the “Stars and Stripes” will offer plenty for its fans this season:

New Leadership, Talent

Thursday’s season-opener at home against the Forest City Owls marks a start of the Marshall McDonald era for the Blowfish.

A first-year assistant under Jonathan Johnson last season, McDonald was promoted to the top helm during the off-season. He now looks to revive a Blowfish program which has posted two straight losing seasons since coming within a game of reaching the CPL Petitt Cup final in 2015.

“We’re going to be aggressive, but on a game-by-game basis,” McDonald said. “I love hitting doubles and home runs, don’t get me wrong. But, we’ll lay down a bunt if the situation calls for it. I think you’ll see the ball flying all over the yard this summer, though.”

Last season saw the Blowfish produce their worst start in team history. An 0-8 start put the team in a hole it never escaped from even after playing .500 the rest of the way to finish 23-30.

For Lexington County products Aaron Adams of River Bluff and Patrick Price of Gilbert, the season opener is an opportunity to insure history does not repeat itself.

“That’s super important,” said Adams about winning the season opener. “You’ve got to win the first few and if you don’t, then you’ve got to keep a positive attitude no matter what happens. Obviously, the first few games are important, but it’s not the end of the world.

“Obviously, we’re going to have to try to get off to a good start. Try to keep things going. But, if we don’t, we’ll be all right. We’re looking to win a lot of ballgames this year.”

Other Chronicle County graduates competing for the Blowfish this season include Tyler White (Chap-in), Sean Parsons (River Bluff), Trey Watts and Jon Scott (both of Lexington), Jacob Rye and Trace Whet-shell (both of Gilbert) and T.J. Shook (Dutch Fork).

Realignment

With the arrival of the Macon Bacon, the CPL will go towards a 4-team division format (East, West, North, South) to split its 16 teams.

Lexington County will compete in the South Division with Macon, Savannah and Florence. The playoff format will goes as follows:

- The top two teams in each division (North, South, East and West) will qualify. If a team wins the first half or second half in their respective division, then they will automatically qualify for the playoffs. If the same team wins both halves, the remaining spot for each division will go to the team with the highest overall winning percentage at the end of the regular season within each division.

There will be one division Game (round 1) in all four divisions. In those games, the team who won the first-half in each division will host a single elimination game against the second-half champion, with the winner moving on to the regional championship round.

The North and East Division winners face off for the Region I title, while the winners of the South and West will meet for the Region II title in single elimination games.

The Region I champion and the Region II champion will meet for the Petitt Cup Championship in a Best-of-Three series.