McEnulty Flirts with No-Hitter as Sluggers Shut Down Copperheads 5-1
ATHENS, OH — Flag City starting pitcher Leo McEnulty flirted with history on Tuesday night, carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning to guide the Sluggers to a dominant 5-1 victory over the Southern Ohio Copperheads at Bob Wren Stadium.
McEnulty completely dismantled the Copperheads' lineup, striking out nine over 7.2 spectacular innings. By the time Southern Ohio (2-7) finally scratched across their first hit, the Sluggers (4-5) had built a comfortable cushion to secure their second straight win.
Southern Ohio took a brief 1-0 lead in the second inning without recording a hit, capitalizing on an infield error and a hit batter to push a run across.
McEnulty slammed the door after that, allowing the Flag City bats to take over. In the top of the fourth, Trenten Smith and Timothy Leark singled to set the stage for Mickey Anderson, who crushed a majestic three-run home run to flip the game to 3-1.
The Sluggers kept building on their lead late. In the seventh, Atticus Huffstutler singled home Leark to make it 4-1. Drew Tajblik then added an insurance run in the eighth, lacing a double that scored Miles Mitchell to extend the gap to 5-1.
Southern Ohio finally broke up the no-hitter with two outs in the bottom of the eighth on a single by Eli Mandler. Reliever Julius Robichaud came on in relief, striking out three over the final 1.1 hitless innings to shut down any hopes of a Copperheads comeback.
The Sluggers host Athens on Wednesday with the first pitch scheduled for 6:05pm.
Key Stats
Flag City Sluggers
Leo McEnulty (P): 7.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO (Win)
Mickey Anderson (CF): 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI
Trenten Smith (2B): 3-for-4, R
Atticus Huffstutler (C): 2-for-3, RBI
Southern Ohio Copperheads
Eli Mandler (CF): 1-for-4, 2 SB (Only team hit)
Jacob Napier (P): 7.0 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 6 SO (Loss)
