Muskegon rallies in late innings to edge Sluggers

FINDLAY – For seven innings, things were going Flag City's way Thursday against Muskegon. Ryan Ruch had three hits and drove in three runs, and the Sluggers built a 10-5 lead going to the eighth inning. But as they have all series, the Clipper had an answer. Muskegon scored four runs in the eighth to trip the Sluggers advantage to a single run, 10-9. Then, in the ninth, against Flag City reliever Cooper Ashby, the Clipper rallied for two runs and edged the Sluggers, 11-10. It was Flag City's fifth consecutive loss. It fell to 13-15. Muskegon improved to 14-16, and leapfrogged Flag City into third place in the GLSCL North Division standings. The Sluggers were still up 10-9 with two outs in the top of ninth and the Clippers' Aidan Robinson on second. Muskegon's Taylor Head singled, and Robinson came home after an error to tie the game at 10. Jack Bakus then singled home Head with the go-ahead run. Davis Weeks pitched a scoreless, hitless bottom of the ninth inning for the save. Matt Heflin, who got the last two outs of the eighth inning for the Clippers, got the win. Ashby took the loss. The Sluggers reliever has been scored upon in each of his last two appearances. That was after he had not allowed an earned run in his first eight showings of the season. Weeks, who started the game as Muskegon's designated hitter, had two singles and two RBIs. Jaxon Brown singled, scored and had two RBIs for the Sluggers. Flag City will be back at Marathon Diamonds today for a 7:05 p.m. game with the Grand Lake Mariners. It's a three-game weekend series, with the first two games in Findlay before shifting to Celina for Sunday's contest. TRIPLE A BASEBALL OMAHA, Neb—Peyton Wilson and Nick Pratto each slugged a home run, and Omaha banged out 20 base hits in a 13-7 win over the Mud Hens Wednesday. Omaha led 2-1 after two innings, then put up six runs in the fourth. The Storm Chasers scored in six of the eight innings they batted Wednesday. Chandler Champlain pitched for Omaha, and allowed three runs on five hits over five innings to pick up the win. The right-hander improved to 3-5. Mud Hens starter Nick Margevicius, a Cleveland native, pitched 3 1/3 innings and allowed seven runs on 11 hits, taking the loss. The southpaw walked one and struck out three, falling to 4-3. Mud Hens leadoff batter Akil Baddoo connected on a two-run home run in the fifth. It was his eighth blast of the season for Toledo. The Mud Hens played the Storm Chasers again Thursday night, and will be in Omaha through the weekend. They are 46-43 on the season.