The Challengers won their seventh game in a row, as they cruised to a 13-2 victory in Game 1 against the Luzern Eagles on Sunday, July 18 at Reussbühl. But the Challengers saw their winning-streak halted, as the Eagles posted a 9-5 win in Game 2.
With the split the Challengers (11-7) remain one game ahead of the Zürich Barracudas and the Bern Cardinals, who are tied for fourth place with a 12-10 record.
Posts in the NLA category:
Challengers split with Eagles
Challengers sweep Mustangs
The Challengers swept the red-hot Embrach Mustangs by taking both games of Saturday’s doubleheader.
In Game 1, Tobias Siegrist went the distance for his fourth win of the season, limiting the Mustangs to only seven hits in a 5-2 victory. He also went 4-for-4 at the plate with a game-high two runs scored.
In the second contest, Siegrist started again and lasted 5 1-3 innings, giving up four runs on five hits. The win came in the Challengers’ final at-bat as Jesus Martinez lifted a high fly ball to center field, which Harry Wischnewski lost in the sun, enabling Siegrist to score the winning run for a 5-4 win. Carlos Peña went 4-for-4 with two singles, a double and a triple, and Brian Hipps was credited with his first win of the season.
Challengers sweep Cardinals
The Challengers won twice against the Bern Cardinals to extend their winning streak to four on Saturday, June 26 at the Heerenschürli ballpark. The Challengers (8-6) posted a 12-10 win against the Cardinals (9-9) in Game 1 and added a 3-0 shutout victory in Game 2. With the two wins the C’s climed over .500 for the first time since opening day and moved into third place.
Continue Reading » Challengers sweep CardinalsChallengers sweep Indians
The Challengers evened their record at 6-6 with two wins over the Lausanne Indians on Saturday, June 12 at the Heerenschürli ballpark. Tobias Siegrist tossed a three-hitter with ten strikeouts and no walks and delivered a triple and a double with three RBI’s, as the Challengers cruised to an 11-1 victory over the Indians in Game 1. Playing coach Brian Hipps and Yanik Probst delivered two hits each, while Hipps and Chris Palatinus drove in two runs apiece.
Game 2 was all Challengers, as the C’s erupted for five hits and scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning. James Sanders and Chris Palatinus combined for a two-hitter, while Brian Hipps and Yonimiler Martinez had two hits and drove in two runs apiece and Thomas Blank added two RBI’s, as the Challengers posted a 9-1 win.
Challengers remain at .500
The Challengers stay at .500 after a split with the second placed Embrach Mustangs on Saturday, May 29. The Mustangs posted a 9-4 win over the C’s in Game 1, while the blue and red answered with a 7-3 victory in Game 2.
Continue Reading » Challengers remain at .500Von Burg announces retirement
Challengers shortstop Ueli von Burg officially announced his retirement with immediate effect on Thursday due to personal and job-related reasons.
Von Burg, 33, appeared in 6 games with the C’s this season batting .421 with 8 hits, 6 RBI’s and 8 runs scored. Von Burg scored also the new Heerenschürli ballpark’s very first run on April 17 on Tobias Siegrist’s RBI-single in the first inning.
Von Burg started his career with the Challengers. After a short stint with the Richterswil Athletics he played more than ten seasons for the Zurich Barracudas before returning to the C’s for the 2009 season. The Challengers wish him all the best for his future.
Eisheilige bringen Spielplan durcheinander
Der Regen macht dem Baseball-Spielplan einen Strich durch die Rechnung. Die NLA-Partien zwischen den Challengers und den Embrach Mustangs vom Samstag, 15. Mai wurden aufgrund des Regens abgesagt. Ein Nachholtermin steht noch nicht fest.
Auch die U15 Cadets Spiele vom Samstag, 15. Mai in Wittenbach gegen die Sissach Frogs und die Wittenbach Vikings wurden infolge des anhaltenden Regens abgesagt. Ein Nachholtermin wurde noch nicht bekannt gegeben.
Challengers stay at .500
The Challengers endured their third straight loss, as they missed several scoring chances, before throwing the game away in the bottom of the 11th inning against the Lausanne Indians on Sunday, May 9.
With the game tied at 3-3 the C’s loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the 11th inning, but two line drives right into the gloves of the Indians’ defense ended the threat. In the bottom half of the frame the Indians had the game winning run on third with one out, but the C’s tagged the runner out in a run-down between third base and home. Meanwhile Fabrice Gendre tried to advance to second and eventually scored, when a overthrow to second sailed into center field.
Challengers starter Thomas Burger left the game in the second inning due to a blister. Chris Palatinus tossed nine strong innings of relief for the C’s, as he allowed two runs and five hits with three walks and six strikeouts, but was outdueled by Indians starter Damien Baumann, who gave up three runs – one earned – and 11 hits with one walk and sent the C’s to their third straight loss.
Game 2 was all Challengers, as they cruised to a 12-1 victory over the Indians. James Sanders (2-0) pitched five scoreless innings, while Patrick Maier made his debut in blue and red, working two innings of relief.
Challengers swept by Cardinals
The second appearance at the new Heerenschürli ballpark was one to forget for the Challengers. The C’s fumbled the chance to win their third game of the season, as they blew a four-run lead against the Bern Cardinals in Game 1. The Cardinals scored five runs in the seventh inning – most of them unearned – against a flawed Challengers defense to eventually win 9-8.
And it was the same procedure in Game 2. The C’s blew an early 4-2 lead, while the Cardinals used a 13-hit attack and a solid defense to cruise to a 17-9 win. The Challengers’ bats kept up with the Cardinals, as Ueli von Burg led the offense with two triples, but again the C’s threw the game away, as their defense committed several costly errors.
Next, the Challengers will face the reigning Swiss champions Therwil Flyers on May 2, at Therwil.
Challengers open new ballpark with victory
On a historic day when Swiss baseball turned over a new leaf the Challengers and the Zurich Barracudas opened their brand new Heerenschürli ballpark on Saturday, April 17.
There was no question that the main centerpiece of the day was the new ballpark, one that had first been talked about more than a decade ago. But the C’s managed to make sure that a sweep in a classical Zurich derby was a headline too.
Marco Visetti threw out the ceremonial first pitch and the crowd reserved a large ovation for him, before Challengers starter Thomas Burger opened the game. The first game was a worthy opener, as the Barracudas jumped out to an early 3-2 lead thanks to a pair of defensive miscues by the C’s, but a four-run eight inning turned things around for the C’s. The Barracudas answered with two runs of their own in the ninth, but reliever Tobias Siegrist sealed the 6-5 win for the Challengers with a strikeout with the tying run on third base.
Siegrist pitched 7 innings of relief, allowing two runs and six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts for his first win of the season.
Game 2 was all Challengers, as they cruised to a 11-0 win over the Barracudas. Playing coach Brian Hipps, who made his debut in blue and red, went 3-for-3 with a double and Farid Bekkali highlighted his first game with the C’s since 1995 with a triple, while James Sanders tossed seven magnificient innings, as he allowed six hits and two walks, while also striking out seven for a shutout win.