The NLB-Team walks away with a split against the Eagles in Lucerne. It could actually have been even more, in the end the Challengers should be happy to have taken at least one win with them. Both games were decided in the sixth inning.
The Challengers will think about Game 1 for a while. The guests had more hits with 11-8, committed fewer errors with 1-3, had more strikeouts with 4-3, and hit a smooth .500 with runners in scoring position. Still, that wasn’t enough to win. And this despite an early 4-0 lead and although Zurich managed to tie it to 7-7 in the fifth inning. In the sixth frame the Eagles scored four runs with four hits and were able to decide the game. The Challengers brought the tying run to the plate again, but it wasn’t enough for more than the 8-11.
David Morroni and Carlos Nepomuceno each had two hits and Nepomuceno and Luis Mateo Jimenez were responsible for two RBI each, while Florin Kampfer and Joseph Stotz put on solid performances from the pitcher’s mound but were poorly rewarded.
Game 2 was also on the brink till the end. The lead went back and forth already in the early innings. The highlight of the starting period came from veteran Thomas Landis, who hit a home run over the fence at right center field to make it 2-2 in the third inning. The decision came again in the sixth inning. At 2-3 Adderly Sarmito hit a 2-run single that brought home Oliver Bernet Garcia and Florin Kampfer and turned the game around. Afterwards, Alex Gordon also scored to make it 5-3, an insurance run that the Challengers later urgently needed. The Eagles made it 4-5 in the sixth inning and blew another hallali in the seventh. After a hit-by-pitch, a single and a walk, they loaded the bases with one out. But Challengers pitcher Luis Mateo Jimenez escaped the Eagles’ final attack with a flyout to left field and a pop fly to himself, securing his colors the win.
In addition to Landis with his home run, Carlos Nepomuceno also impressed with two doubles, while Adderly Sarmiento and Ryan Koley each had two RBI’s.
