Sluggers hold on against Monarchs

SLUGGERS 8MONARCHS 5HILLSDALE, Michigan – Jaxon Brown delivered a clutch two-run single in the top of the seventh inning and Leo McEnulty and Cooper Ashby gave Flag City four solid innings of relief in the Sluggers' 8-5 Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League win over the Michigan Monarchs on Tuesday.Flag City led just 6-5 when Brown's two-run single padded the cushion. Braxton Betancourt started and went five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and striking out five. McEnulty gave up one run in his three innings on the mound; Ashby struck out two of the four batters he faced in the ninth for the save.Flag City improved to 11-9; the Monarchs are 11-11 heading into today's game, also in Hillsdale.Caleb Smith singled in one of Flag City's two runs in the first inning and drove in another run in the fourth. Trey Gardner added a two-run double in the fourth when the Sluggers opened a 6-1 lead.Michigan used a wild pitch, a balk and Cole VanAmeyde's base hit to score three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. An RBI double by Emmanuel Gutierrez trimmed Flag City's lead to 6-5 in the sixth.Flag City 213 000 200—8 9 2Monarchs 100 301 000—5 9 2WP—Betancourt. LP—Juday. TOP HITTERS: (FC) Engskov 3B; Smith 3-1B, 2 RBI; Brown 2-1B, 2 RBI; T. Gardner 2B, 2 RBI. (MM) Gutierrez 1B, 2B, RBI; Wilkerson 2B; Knupp 2B. ScheduleWEDNESDAY'S EVENTSGLSCL BASEBALLFlag City at Michigan Monarchs, 7:05 p.m.