In a make-up game on Wednesday evening the Challengers won 9-2 against the Wil Pirates, securing third place in the standings.
While the final for the Swiss Championship is already underway, with the Therwil Flyers leading 1-0 in the best-of-five series against the Zurich Barracudas, the Challengers are still working on a few make-up games against the Wil Pirates. Before they welcome the Eastern Swiss team for a doubleheader at the Heerenschürli on Saturday, the two teams met for a night game on Wednesday evening. The Challengers left no doubt about the outcome of the game from the start. Ryan Byrne started the engine with a leadoff single and scored the first run on an error, before Jack Siemers increased the lead with an RBI double, while Simon Steffen added an RBI single to make it 3-0. The second inning continued in the same style. David Grabher delivered another leadoff single and then, together with Säntis Zeller, scored the next two runs on a 2-run double by James Sanders to make it 5-0. A sign of life from the Pirates with two runs in the fourth inning was answered by Carsten Zuber with an RBI double to make it 6-2.
Pitcher Simon Steffen showed his best performance of the season. He went eight innings and gave up six hits and two runs with one walk and seven strikeouts, while Ryan Byrne and Carsten Zuber led the offense with three hits each. With this victory, the Challengers set their record at 6-7 and can no longer be pushed out of third place by the Pirates. Saturday offers the coaches another opportunity to help the youngsters get some game practice. A total of five U20 players were already in action for the Zurich team on Wednesday.