By Noah Adcock-Howeth
The longest win streak of any team in the CPL continued to roll last night, as the Blowfish knocked off the Macon Bacon on the road 8-4.
The Blowfish went down early, being blanked in the first three offensive frames while starter Carson Starnes ceded one run in each inning to put Lexington County behind 2-0 after 3.
In the top of the fourth, however, the road offense started to find footing against Bacon starter Jonathan Kozasky. Wells Sykes led off the inning with a double, and came around to score on an RBI single from the suddenly red hot Phillip Ard, who has hits in five straight games. Ard subsequently came around to score on an RBI single from Warren Holzemer, as the bottom of the Blowfish order continued to be the catalyst for offensive outbursts. After a Starnes zero in the bottom half, Lexington County went back to work in the fifth. Cooper Blauser began the frame with a triple, and scored one batter later via a Zach Cowart single. The Blowfish loaded the bases off Kozasky before Macon turned it over to the bullpen. The Blowfish mustered one more in the inning with an Ard sacrifice fly, making it 4-2 Blowfish.
After four frames from Starnes in his first start since injuring his shoulder in early June, KC Brown handed the ball off to Cade Bouknight, one of 5 Blowfish All-Stars this summer. Bouknight went through his first two innings scoreless, and the Blowfish tacked on a run in the top of the 7th with a two out blast from Zander Buchan, the 4th of the year for the South Carolina backstop.
Bouknight ran into trouble for the first time in the bottom of the 7th, as a two out walk opened the gate for Macon to attempt a comeback. The walk was succeeded by a stolen base, RBI single, and RBI double to make the score 5-4 before Bouknight struck out Bacon catcher Connor Hicks to strand the tying run on.
With Lexington County needing insurance, the offense answered the call. The bases were loaded with one out thanks to two singles and a hit by pitch, and the heart of the order delivered just enough to get the job done. A bases loaded walk for Blauser, a sac fly for Cowart, and an infield single for Sykes made the score 8-4, and that score would hold for the remainder of the contest.
Matt Dooley worked a perfect 8th and Landry Mead slammed the door in the 9th, holding the Bacon at bay and pushing the Blowfish to their 8th straight win. Dooley earned the win out of the pen, his first of the summer.
Lexington County now sits at 18-10 and 6-0 in the second half. Those records are the best overall and the best in the second half amongst CPL teams. The Blowfish will play two tonight against the first half champion Forest City Owls, with game one of the doubleheader beginning at 5:05 PM.