The Wilmington Sharks and Lexington County Blowfish played in a Championship Series for the record books. The Sharks jumped out to an early series lead, 1-0, at home by besting the Blowfish 7-5 in Game 1. The series then moved to Lexington, S.C., where the Blowfish planned to capitalize on having home field advantage. After scoring seven runs in the first five frames, Lexington County cruised to a 7-4 victory in Game 2 that evened the series.

In the winner-take-all Game 3 on Saturday night, the Blowfish again jumped out to an early lead, this time by a score of 4-0 after two. Wilmington would answer, however, with a couple of runs of their own in the top of the third, and then Lexington County tacked on one more to make it 5-2 after four complete. Lightning and a small storm cell forced the game in to a delay. A little over an hour later the game resumed and the Sharks rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game up at 5 a piece.

But the night would belong to the Blowfish as they loaded the bases to start the bottom of the eighth inning. Ashby Vining (Saint Peter’s) then connected on a two-RBI single to give Lexington County the edge, 7-5. CJ Czerwinski (James Madison) would then close out the game, earning the save and cementing the Blowfish as CPL Champions for 2023. Robbie Jordan (Francis Marion) picked up the win.

For all the information on the 2023 CPL Petitt Cup Playoffs, please visit HERE.