One day after the unsuccessful opening day, the Challengers struck back. And the answer was impressive. While the reigning champion lost to its local rivals Zurich Barracudas 1-13 on Friday, the Challengers turned the tables on Saturday and won 13-7.
While the offense failed the day before, this time the Challengers started strong. Coach Thomas Burger’s team seemed to have thoroughly analyzed the false start and made the right adjustments. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the championship team suddenly appeared on the pitch again. The Challengers opened the game with hits from James Sanders, Robert Sedin, Leonel Sosa Marte and Tobias Siegrist for a quick 3-0 lead. The Barracudas came back again, because the Challengers weren’t solid in defense today either, and took the lead of 5-3 in the fourth inning. Anyone who thought that the three runs at the start of the game was just a brief flare-up for the home team was quickly proven wrong.
With an RBI-double by Ryan Byrne in the fourth inning and an RBI-double by Säntis Zeller in the fifth inning, the Challengers tied the game again before the MVP of the championship season, James Sanders, put his colors at 7-5 with a 2-run double. And the C’s selt the deal in the seventh frame. The defending champions followed up with four more runs from Simon Steffen and James Sanders. Finally the offense produced 13 runs on 18 hits. The Challengers thus delivered an impressive reaction and also clocked in for the 2024 season a day late.

Continue Reading » Strong reaction from the Challengers

Summer has arrived in Zurich right at the start of the 2024 Swiss Baseball Championship season. However, the sun did not shine for the Challengers at the season opener against their cross-town rivals Zurich Barracudas. The Challengers lost Game 1 with a score of 1-13.
The mission to defend their title is off to a tough start for the Zurich Challengers. The reigning champion was still visibly rusty and was inferior to its local rivals in all aspects of the game. The result of 13-1 speaks for itself, but due to the 13-1 hits and eight errors on the home team’s side there were no doubts about the outcome of the game. At the beginning it was tight game. The Barracudas scored their first run of the season in the third inning with a sacrifice fly from Nick Fischer by Simon Brändli. One inning later the season opener was already decided. The Barracudas produced six runs on five hits and three errors from the opponent to take an 8-0 lead and were no longer looking in the rearview mirror.
Not much was going well with the Challengers. The highlight from their perspective was the outfield assist by left fielder Jack Siemers at home in the fourth frame. At this point the deficit was already six runs. The Challengers have the opportunity to do better tomorrow evening. At 6 p.m. the two teams will meet again for the second local derby in Zurich’s Heerenschürli ballbark.

Continue Reading » Season Opener ends with a loss

In the last game of the preliminary round, the Challengers met the first-placed Therwil Flyers again. The Zurich team was able to keep up for four innings. Then the reigning champion made rushed away and finally won with 16-2.
For the first time this season, the Zurich team presented with Nick and Jack Siemers and Florin Kämpfer three juniors in their starting lineup. They did their job well. A ball put into play by Kämpfer caused an error in the Flyers defense and brought the 1-1 tie through Marco Limacher, who had put himself in scoring position with a lead-off triple. The Flyers followed up with a triple from Chris Horne in the third inning and then a solo home run from Taka Oshima to make it 3-1. In the fourth frame the Challengers reduced the lead to 2-3 and kept hoping for a positive result. Luis Mateo Jimenez brought home again Limacher with an RBI single. But then the Flyers stepped up a gear and showed why they have been the undefeated champions since 2019. With surgical precision their balls found the gaps in the Challengers defense, so the game ended after seven innings with mercy rule.
Luis Mateo Jimenez and Oliver Bernet Garcia led the Challengers offense with two hits each. In two weeks the C’s will meet city rivals Zurich Barracudas in the playoff semi-finals.

Continue Reading » Challengers finish Round Robin in 2nd place

In the duel between the first placed Flyers and the second placed Challengers, the reigning champion from Therwil quickly ensures clear conditions. The Challengers defend themselves as best they can and can claim some positive points for themselves.
The dfending champion from Therwil already made the decisive difference in innings three and four by submitting no fewer than nine runs. After all, the Challengers also came to a good inning. After Adam Greenberg scored the first run for Zurich on a wild pitch, Marco Limacher followed with an RBI double and Carlos Nepomuceno with another RBI to make it 3-9. In the next few innings Hayden Jung-Goldberg kept the Basel offensive in check, but the C’s couldn’t get more than their fourth run through a sac fly by Adam Greenberg. Ultimately, they left the field with a 4-11 loss.
Leonel Sosa Marte had four hits, while Nick Siemers contributed two hits. The Challengers will have the opportunity to take revenge tomorrow, Saturday. At the end of the preliminary round, they meet the Flyers again at 5.30 p.m. in the Heerenschürli ballpark.

Continue Reading » Flyers walk away with win

The Challengers defeated the Zurich Barracudas 11-9 in an exciting Zurich derby on Wednesday night and secured home advantage for the playoff semifinals. There the C’s will meet the Barracudas again.
However, the home team dressed in green got off to a better start. The Barracudas took a 3-0 lead in the first inning and held a 5-2 lead after four frames. But in the fifth inning the Challengers made a big turnaround. After a lead-off single by Leonel Sosa Marte, Carlos Nepomuceno made it 3-5 with what was already his third hit of the game. He set off a veritable avalanche. Patrick Maier brought his team up to 4-5 with an RBI single before Nick Siemers and Hayden Jung-Goldberg’s RBI’s turned the game around. But that wasn’t all. Regis Reinhard made it 7-5 with a double and Leonel Sosa Marte capped the inning with a 2-run double to make it 9-5.
But anyone who had thought that the game was over was way off the mark. Maybe one or the other thought so. But not Livio Bundi. The Barracudas DH brought new life into his squad with a two-run homer in the second half of the fifth frame, and he even repeated the feat in the seventh inning to restart the game again at 9-9.
But the last exclamation point was set by the guests. Marco Limacher started the ninth inning with a walk and scored the go-ahead run on an RBI triple from Nick Siemers. And Siemers scored an insurance run after an RBI single from Regis Reinhard to make it 11-9. However, Luis Mateo Jimenez did not need one at all. The pitcher ended the game with three quick outs.
With the win the Challengers now have ten wins and four losses and can no longer be pushed out of second place. On Friday and Saturday night, the Challengers will meet the undisputed leaders Therwil Flyers twice at the Heerenschürli ballpark. The outcome of these two games does not change the fact that the next Zurich derby with the Barracudas will take place in the semi-finals.

Continue Reading » Win against cross-town rival

The poor weather after the start of the season continues to affect the baseball calendar to this day. There are three make-up games in the form of night games scheduled for the Challengers this week. On Wednesday evening there will be a Zurich derby with the Zurich Barracudas at the Heerenschürli ballpark, before the first placed Therwil Flyers make two guest appearances at the Heerenschürli on Friday and Saturday evening. The games on Wednesday and Friday start at 6.30 p.m., the Saturday game is scheduled for 5.30 p.m.

Continue Reading » Three Nightgames for the Challengers

While summer vacation has already begun for many, the Challengers are working extra shifts. Three games that fell victim to the weather in spring will be rescheduled between Wednesday and Saturday evening. Before that, there was a regularly scheduled doubleheader in Bern taking place on Sunday.
The Challengers got two wins, but at least the one in Game 1 was hard work. The game lasted no less than 3 hours and 39 minutes, went into the 11th inning, the Cardinals hit an incredible 20 hits and the Challengers first had to recover from a 1-7 deficit to even make it into the extra innings. That was only possible because the Cardinals made a costly error with two outs in the ninth inning, thanks to which Marco Limacher brought Säntis Zeller home with an RBI single to make it 9-9. In the tenth inning Adam Greenberg set up a good cushion with a 3-run single, while Jayden Jung-Goldberg made it 13-9 with a sac fly. But this time, the Cardinals proved their escape skills. With a full count walk and bases loaded with two outs, they tied the game to a much-celebrated 13-13. However the Challengers were also able to submit in the eleventh inning. Carlos Nepomuceno’s and Säntis Zeller’s Sac Flies gave Zurich a 15-13 lead for good. The home team had no answer for that anymore.
Adam Greenberg had two hits and five RBIs, Leonel Sosa Marte had two hits and three RBIs, and Nick Siemers and Luis Mateo Jimenez scored three runs each.
The second game then lasted only half as long. The Challengers clearly prevailed 14-0. Adam Greenberg and Säntis Zeller each had two hits and three RBI. But the history of the game was written by Challenger’s pitcher Stefan Haltmeier. He gave up just one hit in the fifth inning, earning a one-hit shutout win with five walks and five strikeouts. On Wednesday evening at 6.30 p.m. in the Heerenschürli ballpark the Challengers will meet the Zurich Barracudas for a city derby.

Continue Reading » Challengers start busy seven days with two Wins

In the last game the Challengers were challenged again. In order to defend the Swiss spot in the Federations Cup, a win against the Swedish representative Rättvik was needed. Things didn’t look good for the C’s for a long time. But in the sixth inning they turned the game around with six runs, won 8-6 and stayed in the Federations Cup.
The Swedes took the lead in the third thanks to a two-run homer by Joel Johnson and opened the gap to 3-0 in the fifth inning. The Challengers needed till the fifth frame to arrive on the scoreboard. After hits from Simon Steffen and James Sanders, Steffen benefited from a throwing error by the Swedes and scored the 1-3. Suddenly things were going well for Zurich, while the Swedish defense began to wobble. Leonel Sosa Marte started the sixth inning with a double followed by Ryan Byrne’s single and an RBI fielder’s choice from Regis Reinhard. After a single by Säntis Zeller, the Challengers tied the game and after another error by the Scandinavians, Zeller scored the leading run for his colors. The Zurich team followed up with a single by James Sanders, before Adam Greenberg made it 6-3 with a 2-run double and Rättvik also allowed the 3-7 with another error. Zeller scored an insurance run in the seventh inning to make it 8-3, a lead the Challengers didn’t give up anymore.
James Sanders and Ryan Byrne led the Zurich offensive with three hits each, while Hayden Jung-Goldberg and Säntis Zeller each contributed two hits to the win. James Sanders got the win with another seven strong innings.
Sanders had the tournament’s highest batting average with eleven hits and a fantastic .647, while Simon Steffen was the top pitcher with ten strikeouts in this category. Since the Ukrainians from Gorn were able to celebrate a walk-off win after an extra-innings against the previously unbeaten leader Dornbirn in the afternoon game, the Challengers finished the tournament in fourth place.
All the games from Bratislava have been streamed live on the WBSC Europe YouTube Channel.
Schedule:

 
Monday, June 19, 5 p.m.: Zurich Challengers va. Apollo Bratislava 3-7
 
Tuesday, June 20, 1.30 p.m.: Deurne Spartans vs. Zurich Challengers 7-2
 
Wednesday, June 21, 1.30 p.m.: CNTU-OSDYSSOR-Gorn vs. Zurich Challengers 2-5
 
Thursday, June 22, 10 a.m.: Zurich Challengers va. Dornbirn Indians 1-16 (5 Inn.)
 
Friday, June 23, 10 a.m.: Rättvik BSK vs. Zurich Challengers 6-8
 
Saturday, June 24, 11 a.m. Final: Deurne Spartans vs. Dornbirn Indians

Continue Reading » Win against Rättvik, Challengers defend spot in Federations Cup