FINDLAY, Ohio — The Flag City Sluggers missed a chance to re-enter the playoff picture Friday night, dropping the series opener to the Xenia Scouts by a score of 13-6.

Instead, Flag City slips to last place in the four-team North division, with just five games remaining in the regular season. 

Xenia jumped out to a commanding lead early, plating seven runs in the top of the third. Jacob Sams entered in relief to halt the damage—recording a strikeout before Matt Gardner led a heads-up double play by tagging the lead runner and flipping to Ashton Williams for the 6-4 turn.

The Sluggers finally broke through in the fourth inning when Caleb Smith singled to center, driving in Will Lafferty to make it 9-1. The Sluggers’ offense remained quiet until the seventh, when Tanner Powell lined a base hit to center to score Smith again.

Flag City added four more runs across the final two innings, but the early deficit proved too large to overcome. With the loss, the Sluggers fell to 17-18. They now sit 6.5 games behind the division-leading Lima Locos, but just two games out of a second-place playoff spot.

The win clinched the South division title for the Scouts, who improved to 23-14 on the year.

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