{"id":7279,"date":"2025-06-17T12:21:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T12:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/17\/blowfish-in-first-place-battle-in-west-division\/"},"modified":"2025-06-17T12:21:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T12:21:28","slug":"blowfish-in-first-place-battle-in-west-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/17\/blowfish-in-first-place-battle-in-west-division\/","title":{"rendered":"Blowfish in first-place battle in West Division"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Thomas Grant Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Coastal Plain League baseball season is reaching the midway point of the first half.<\/p>\n

It’s a three-team race for first place. As of Tuesday, the Lexington County Blowfish (9-6) were 1 ½ games behind Forest City (9-3) and a game behind Asheboro (9-4) in the West Division.<\/p>\n

The Blowfish’s struggles with Forest City continued with two home losses last week. After a 5-1 loss on June 9, Lexington County rebounded with two straight wins over Florence and East Division leader Peninsula.<\/p>\n

On June 12, Lexington County dropped to 0-3 to the Owls with a 10-4 loss. The Blowfish then headed on the road to face the Tri-City Chili Peppers on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The trio of Brent Stukes of Gray Collegiate Academy, Scott Templeton, and Hunter Phipps of Dutch Fork each posted four strikeouts. A 7-run sixth inning helped the Blowfish pull away for the 13-5 win.<\/p>\n

Nick DiCarlo went 2-3 with three RBI and Zach Buchan went 2-4 with two RBI in the win.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Lexington County fell in eight innings 14-3 to Holly Springs. The Blowfish returned to action in Boone, NC to face the Bigfoots before returning home Wednesday to meet the Bacon.<\/p>\n

FORMER BLOWFISH<\/strong> MAKES IMPACT AT CWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Coastal Carolina baseball team has advanced in the winner’s bracket at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
(Photo by Coastal Carolina)
Wells Sykes of Lexington reaches base against Arizona<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Chanticleers opened with a 7-4 victory over Arizona. Lexington graduate Wells Sykes, one of four former Blowfish on the Coastal Carolina roster, opened the scoring in the second inning with a 2-run double.<\/p>\n

With the game tied at 4-4 in the eighth inning, Sykes hit a 2-out double to start a 3-run rally that put the Chanticleers ahead.<\/p>\n

“This is my last year of college eligibility and I’m giving it everything  I’ve got for this team,” Sykes said. “I’ve got a ton of respect for my teammates and my coaches, and I think the big crowds and the loud environments are helping. We’re locked in. We’re on a crazy win streak. We’re really consistent.”<\/p>\n

Another former Blowfish Ty Dooley also went 2-4.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Chanticleers defeated Oregon State 6-2 for their 25th<\/sup> straight win. They were awaiting the winner of Tuesday’s matchup between Louisville and Oregon State on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

UPCOMING EVENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Blowfish will hold Neon 90s Hooties Night on Friday against Florence. The team will wear neon-colored Hooties jerseys with Back The 90s on the back.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Photo by Lexington County Blowfish<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Fans will be able to bid on the jerseys at www.blowfishbaseball.com<\/a>. Proceeds benefit Lexington Medical Center Foundation<\/strong><\/a> and The Hootie and the Blowfish Foundation<\/strong><\/a> will match up to $10,000.<\/p>\n

Following the game, the Blowfish will hold a fireworks show. Another show will take place Saturday night as part of “Take A Selfie Night” for the contest against High Point-Thomasville.<\/p>\n

LEXINGTON COUNTY BLOWFISH SCHEDULE<\/strong><\/p>\n

THURSDAY – at Macon Bacon 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

FRIDAY – FLORENCE 7:05 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

SATURDAY – HIGH POINT-THOMASVILLE 7:05 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MONDAY – at Martinsville 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

WEDNESDAY – at Forest City 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Thomas Grant Jr. The Coastal Plain League baseball season is reaching the midway point of the first half. It’s a three-team race for first place. As of Tuesday, the Lexington County Blowfish (9-6) were 1 ½ games behind Forest City (9-3) and a game behind Asheboro (9-4) in theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[52],"tags":[879],"class_list":["entry","author-john-griggs","post-7279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-blowfish-baseball"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gpstrianglenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Blowfish-Baseball-at-plate_2025_630x350.jpg?fit=630%2C350","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}