The Challengers suffered their second loss at the Federation Cup in Croatia. Compared to the opening game against the Sofia Blues, the Zurich team clearly improved against the host Vindija Varazdin both defensively and offensively. Nevertheless it was not enough for a win. The Challengers built a 2-0 lead till the third inning thanks to two solo home runs from Leonel Sosa Marte, but the Croatians were not at a loss for a response and scored ten runs in a row till the seventh inning, including three home runs of their own. The Challengers tried to close the gap and get back into the game when Louis Bischof and Ryan Byrne were able to shorten the score to 7-10 with a home run each. In the end it was not enough. For the final game of the preliminary round, the Challengers will face the still unbeaten team Apollo Bratislava on Saturday.
The games will be streamed live on the Baseball Europe TV channel.
Schedule:

Thursday, June 6: Sofia Blues vs. Zürich Challengers 11-0 (8 inn.)
Friday, June 7: Zürich Challengers vs. Vindija Varazdin 7-10
Saturday, June 8th, 11:00 a.m.: Apollo Bratislava vs. Zurich Challengers
Sunday, June 9th, 2:00 p.m.: Final

Continue Reading » Four home runs are not enough

The Challengers started the tournament at the Federation Cup in Croatia with a loss. The Swiss champions didn’t have much to gain against the Bulgarian representative Sofia Blues and especially their pitcher Evgenii Chernozemsky. The Zurich team delivered four hits only, which were wiped out by the Bulgarian defense with two double plays, while Chernozemsky collected a total of nine strikeouts. However, Dimitar Nassapov was responsible for the decision in the tournament opener with no fewer than three home runs, as he drove in eight of the eleven Bulgarian runs. On Friday the Challengers will face the host Vindija Varazdin.
The games will be streamed on the Baseball Europe TV channel.
Schedule:

Thursday, Juni 6: Sofia Blues vs. Zürich Challengers 11-0 (8 Inn.)
Friday, June 7, 11 a.m.: Zürich Challengers vs. Vindija Varazdin
Saturday, June 8, 11 a.m.: Apollo Bratislava vs. Zürich Challengers
Sunday, June 10, 2 p.m.: Final

Continue Reading » Challengers lose opening game

As the reigning Swiss champions the Challengers represent Swiss baseball at the Federation Cup in Croatia. After the withdrawal of CNTU-OSDYSSOR-Gorn from the Ukraine the tournament in Varazdin will start newly on Thursday, June 6th and will last till Sunday, June 9th. The morning games start at 11 a.m., while the afternoon games are scheduled for 4 p.m. As the Challengers’ opponents remain Apollo Bratislava from Slovakia, Sofia Blues from Bulgaria and the host team Vindija Varazdin.
The C’s will play their first game newly on Thursday morning against the Bulgarian team Sofia Blues. The games will be streamed live on the Baseball Europe TV channel live gestreamt.
Schedule:

Thursday, Jun 6th, 11 a.m.: Sofia Blues vs. Zürich Challengers
Friday, June 7th, 11 a.m.: Zürich Challengers vs. Vindija Varazdin
Saturday, June8th , 11 a.m.: Apollo Bratislava vs. Zürich Challengers
Sunday, June 9th, 2 p.m.: Final

Even those at home don’t have to miss out on international baseball. The tournament of the second group of the Federation Cup with the Zurich Barracudas will be played at the Heerenschürli ballpark in Zurich. This tournament will take place from June 3rd to 8th.

Continue Reading » Schedule changes at the Federation Cup

As the reigning Swiss champions the Challengers represent Swiss baseball at the Federation Cup in Croatia. The tournament in Varazdin will take place from Tuesday, June 4th to Sunday, June 9th. The morning games start at 11 a.m. and the afternoon games are scheduled for 4 p.m. The Challengers’ opponents are CNTU-OSDYSSOR-Gorn from Ukraine, Apollo Bratislava from Slovakia, Sofia Blues from Bulgaria and the host team Vindija Varazdin.
The C’s will play their first game on Tuesday afternoon after the official opening ceremony against the home team from Varazdin. The games will be streamed live on the Baseball Europe TV channel.
Schedule:

Tuesday, June 4, 4 p.m.: Vindija Varazdin vs. Zürich Challengers
Thursday, June 6, 11 a.m.: CNTU-OSDYSSOR-Gorn vs. Zürich Challengers
Friday, June 7, 11 a.m.: Zürich Challengers vs. Apollo Bratislava
Saturday, June 8, 11 a.m.: Zürich Challengers vs. Sofia Blues
Sunday, June 9, 2 p.m.: Final

Even those at home don’t have to miss out on international baseball. The tournament of the second group of the Federation Cup with the Zurich Barracudas will be played at the Heerenschürli ballpark in Zurich. This tournament will take place from June 3rd to 8th.

Continue Reading » Challengers at the Federation Cup in Croatia

After the clear defeat in the night game on Friday evening against the Zurich Barracudas, a reaction from the Challengers was required. The game was fairly even until the fourth inning. Then the Barracudas broke the game open and won again with a solid 13-5. The Challengers are a far away from their best level.
An RBI-double by Leonel Sosa Marte in the first inning at least got things off to a better start than on Friday. And in the third inning the Challengers found their way back to 2-2 in the form of James Sanders. The Barracudas took the lead again on a home run by Casey Rother, but the Challengers stayed within striking distance with an RBI groundout by Stefan Haltmeier. Until the fourth inning. With four hits and two errors from the champions, the Barracudas made it 9-3. The game was decided. Not only the result of 5-13, but also the number of hits with 7-14 and 6-3 errors show that the Challengers were inferior in all respects of the game.

Continue Reading » Challengers lose again against Barracudas

The Challengers once again fell behind early in the local derby. Since the offensive remains pale this Friday evening, the early deficit weighs too heavily. The Barracudas left the field as winners with a score of 8-5.
This circumstance runs like a common thread through the title holder’s season so far. The Challengers regularly oversleep the start and are repeatedly confronted with a large deficit. The strong offense was able to correct the initial damage a few times, but against the Zurich Barracudas and their young pitchers they were not able to turn things around.
The game was marked by many errors. Of the 13 runs scored, only five were earned. The Barracudas took a 2-0 lead in the first frame thanks, among other things, to a costly error. The home team followed up with three more runs in the third inning. And the Challengers’ first run, an RBI-single by Säntis Zeller, was followed by two more runs in the fourth inning to make it 7-1. Now the guests jumped in as well. Robert Sedin cut the lead to 2-7 with an RBI-single before the Barracudas gave up three runs on two errors in the sixth inning with the bases loaded. However, Barracudas closer Alex Bruce shut the door in the final two innings. On Sunday afternoon the Challengers have the chance for a revenge. At 3 p.m. there will be another local derby in the Heerenschürli ballpark.

Continue Reading » Challengers lose Friday night game

The Zurich Challengers also end the third gameday of the 2024 season with a split. In the first game of the day they erased a six-run deficit to finally celebrate a 11-7 win, but lost game 2 to the Wil Pirates 1-2.
The initial phase of the encounter with the Eastern Swiss was a complete failure. The Pirates took a 7-1 lead also thanks to five runs in the second inning. Ryan Byrne got the initial spark for the Challengers in the third inning. He opened the frame with a successful bunt single and scored on a mistake by the Wil defense. The Zurich team cut the deficit to 4-7 thanks to runs from Säntis Zeller and Regis Reinhard and an RBI single from Carsten Zuber in his first game with the Challengers. Now the home team was in the game as well. The Challengers finally took control in the sixth inning. Simon Steffen with an RBI single, Ryan Byrne with a 2-run double, Regis Reinhard with a sac fly and last but not least Robert Sedin with a home run over the wall in left field gave the C’s a 10-7 lead. The relief pitchers James Sanders and Regis Reinhard brought the game to the finish line. The latter delivered another RBI-single to make it 11-7.
Ryan Byrne led the offense with three hits and two RBI, Regis Reinhard had two hits and two RBI, while Robert Sedin, Carsten Zuber and Patrick Maier all contributed two hits in the win.
Game 2 developed into a pitcher’s duel between ex-Challengers pitcher Andrea Girasole for the Pirates and left-hander Ryan Byrne on the Challengers’ side. In the first inning, no one could have guessed that the Pirates’ two runs would be enough to win. The guests scored two runs with one hit as they made maximum use of the Zurich defense’s inaccuracies with stolen bases, a wild pitch, a passed ball and an error. Byrne did not allow any further damage to occur. He gave up just three hits in seven innings with two runs, one earned, two walks and an incredible 15 strikeouts. The fact that this wasn’t enough to win was due to the opponent. Girasole kept Zurich’s offense in check throughout the entire game. He went through seven innings throwing just 84 pitches, giving up eight hits and just one run, an RBI single from Patrick Maier in the second inning, with four strikeouts and no walks. So after six games and a record of 3-3, the Challengers remain at .500.

Continue Reading » Challengers stay at .500