Box Score: http://greatlakesscbl.wttbaseball.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=440486

TOLEDO, OH: After suffering an 18-1 blowout loss in Adrian to the Leprechauns on Saturday, all eyes were on the Monarchs to see how they would respond with the All-Star Break looming right around the corner.

Lake Erie responded in a big way, defeating its rival Irish Hills, 6-2, to salvage a series split at Fifth Third Field in downtown Toledo on Sunday night.

The Monarchs (14-17) remain 3.5 games back of third place Saginaw for the final playoff spot in the North division with the win. The Leprechauns (15-16) are a game ahead of the Monarchs in the standings and have the head-to-head tiebreaker, having won three of the four matchups during the 2018 season.

Lake Erie’s offense was hot early. Just two batters into the game, All-Star starter Jordan Nwogu tripled to left-center, setting up the Monarchs right away to score. He came across on an Alex Lambeau single to give Lake Erie the lead. Lambeau was plated by a Casey O’Laughlin sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

Three straight baserunners began the Monarchs rally in the visiting half of the second. Will Prater doubled, Griffin Mazur walked, and then Caleb Balgaard swatted a double to score Prater. Nwogu brought home Mazur with a sacrifice fly right after that to give Lake Erie a 4-0 advantage after two.

The Monarchs made it 6-0 by scoring two more times in the fourth. Prater and Mazur collected hits to put themselves in scoring position for Balgaard. Prater scored on a wild pitch from RHP Pierce Banks. Balgaard then drove in Mazur with an RBI knock.

Banks (4-1) surrendered six earned runs and nine hits with a walk and four punchouts in a little over three innings. RHP Jeremy Spezia, RHP Grant Kersh, and RHP Austin Calopietro all combined to blank the Monarchs over the final six innings, allowing just four hits.

An RBI double from Adam Furnas and a run-scoring single off RHP Layne Schnitz-Paxton in the seventh was all the Leprechauns offense could muster for the evening.

Schnitz-Paxton (4-2) picked up the victory, scattering five hits and four walks with six strikeouts and yielding just two runs over seven stanzas.

Two of the first three Leprechauns reached base in the ninth off of LHP Alex Theis, forcing RHP Nathan Haugh to enter from the bullpen. He collected two K’s to slam the door on Irish Hills to finish the game.

Next Up: The Monarchs will now break for three days to make way for Tuesday’s GLSCL All-Star Game in Mason, Ohio. Lake Erie will begin the final ten-game stretch of the season at Flat Rock Field on Thursday evening against the Lima Locos. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.  

To keep up to date with your favorite baseball team, visit the Monarchs official website: http://lakeeriemonarchs.com . Be sure to follow the Monarchs on Twitter: @GLL_Monarchs, and on Facebook: /lakeeriemonarchs/.