Challengers 6, Barracudas 4

The Challengers won against the Barracudas from Zurich for the first time in two years in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.

Starter Thomas Landis (8-5) was as dominant as ever and threw seven innings, giving up just two earned runs on eight hits and three walks. He also hit his sixth homer in six games and now leads every major offensive category in the Challenger organisation.

Thomas Landis pitched a complete game for his eighth win of the year.

The Challengers were first to score on Landis' two-run homer in the first inning for a 2-0 lead, and that score stood until the bottom of the third inning as the Barracudas pushed an unearned run across the plate. They managed to tie the score in the fourth on a solo homer by Farid Bekkali.

Then the Challengers began to warm up and scored twice in the fifth on an RBI-single by Roger Brunner and an error by catcher Mark Riva. They scored two more in the sixth inning on an RBI-double by Armin Blickenstorfer">Armin Blickenstorfer and an RBI-single by Makoto Fukamachi to put the Challengers up 6-3.

The Barracudas opened the seventh and last inning by hitting back-to-back doubles and cutting the lead to 6-4. With no outs, the Barracudas had the tying run at the plate, but Landis did a great job retiring three consecutive batters on two flyouts and a groundout.

The Challengers celebrated their victory shortly and manager Marvin Moore already achieved his goal by winning one against the arch-rivals.