The Challengers dropped Game 1 of their best-of-five semi-final series to the Bern Cardinals, as the Cards posted a 6-1 win. The game took place at the Heerenschürli ballpark on Sunday, September 29 after the game on Saturday at Bern has been rained out. After the defending Swiss champion Bern Cardinals opened the score in the first inning, the Challengers tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Tobias Siegrist crossed the plate with the help of the Cardinals defense. The C’s loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth but weren’t able to cash in. Better did it the Cardinals in the top of the sixth frame, as they scored five runs on four hits, two sacrifice flies, two walks, one error and a wild pitch to make it 6-1. And the Cards didn’t look back, as Ryan Byrne retired 11 of the last 13 batters he faced.
Byrne went the distance, as he allowed one unearned run and four hits with no walks and eight strikeouts, while Andrea Girasole tossed 5.1 innings allowing five runs – three earned – and six hits with two walks and one strikeout. Jesus Martinez was the only Challenger with two hits, while Säntis Zeller and Thomas Blank had one hit apiece.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series will take place on Saturday, September 29 at 2pm at Bern Allmend.
Cards take opener, win 6-1
NLB-Team loses to Flyers, still adds one win
The NLB-Team lost their home game against the Therwil Flyers on Sunday, September 29 at the Heerenschürli ballpark, as the Flyers posted a 9-3 victory over the C’s. Nonetheless the Challengers added one to their win column, as the Flyers weren’t able to field nine players for Game 1. According to the rules the C’s are credited with a 7-0 win. The Challengers remain in fifth place with a 7-11 record.
Weiterlesen » NLB-Team loses to Flyers, still adds one winGame 1 rained out
Game 1 of the best-of-five semi-final series between the Challengers and the Bern Cardinals has been canceled due to rain. The opener of the series will now take place on Sunday, September 23 at 5pm at the Heerenschürli ballpark.
The Swiss Baseball and Softball Federation announced that Game 2 will take place on Saturday, September 29 in Bern and Game 3 on Sunday, September 30 in Bern as well. Game 4 if necessary would be played on Saturday, October 6 at the Heerenschürli ballpark again.
C’s face Cards in semi-final series
The best-of-five semi-final series between the Zurich Challengers and the reigning champion Bern Cardinals begins on the upcoming weekend with Game 1 at Bern on Saturday, September 22 and Game 2 at the Heerenschürli ballpark on Sunday, September 23.
It will be the eighth Postseason meeting between the two teams, the sixth in a Semi-Final series. The last time the Challengers and the Cardinals faced each other in the Playoffs was in the 2007 Finals Series, with the Cardinals sweeping the Challengers 3-0. The two Challengers’ Series wins date back to 1999 and 2000. Since 1995, the two teams met 94 times with the Challengers leading 55-39.
This year, the seven-time Swiss Champions Bern Cardinals finished the Qualification Round in first place with a 23-5 record, while the eight-time Swiss Champions Zürich Challengers were in fourth place with an 18-10 record.
In the 2012 Qualification Round, the Challengers won the Season Series against the Cardinals 3-1. After the Cards edged the C’s 5-4 in Game 1 on September 2, the C’s answered with an 8-0 win in the second game. On September 9, the Challengers swept the Cards at the Heerenschürli ballpark, as they posted an 11-8 win in Game 1 before adding a 5-3 victory in Game 2.
Game 1 of the Best-of-Five Series starts at Bern Allmend on Sunday, September 22 at 2pm, Game 2 will take place at the Heerenschürli ballpark on Sunday, September 23 at 5pm.
The Therwil Flyers will face the Embrach Mustangs in the other Semi-Final Series.
History:
First meeting: 1988 Last meeting: September 9, 2012 Number of meetings (since 1995): 94 Regular season series: 48-25 Zurich Challengers (.657) Current streak: Challengers (3)
Post season history:
Post season meetings: 7-14 Bern Cardinals (.667) Post season series: 2-5 Bern Cardinals 1999 semi-finals: Challengers defeat Cardinals, 2-1 2000 semi-finals: Challengers defeat Cardinals, 2-0 2001 semi-finals: Cardinals defeat Challengers, 2-1 2003 semi-finals: Cardinals defeat Challengers, 3-2 2005 finals: Cardinals defeat Challengers, 3-0 2006 semi-finals: Cardinals defeat Challengers, 2-0 2007 finals: Cardinals defeat Challengers, 3-0
Cadets Win Double Header Against Strong Geneva Team
On Saturday 15 September, the U15-Cadets travelled to Geneva for a double header against the Geneva Baseball team that has lost only one game the entire season. On the back of two outstanding pitching performances the Cadets came away with two wins taking the first game 5-1 and winning the nightcap 7-2.
Under clear skies and with a beautiful mountain backdrop, the clear story of the game was the dominating pitching performances of Michael Iacono and Ryan Ciemny. Both Michael and Ryan pitched very strong complete games. In the opener, Michael struck out 12 batters in 5 innings and had his curve ball working very well. In the second game Ryan had 14 strikeouts from a total of 15 outs required and was throwing with very impressive velocity.
The big bats on the day were swung by Tobias Haynor and Ryan Ciemny. Toby was 3 for 6 with one double, 2 runs scored, and 2 RBI’s. Ryan was 4 for 6 with a double, 4 runs scored, and 2 RBI’s. Michael Iacono also supported the offensive effort with 3 runs scored.
Both games were tough and could have easily gone either way. It was a great weekend with a very good and well run Geneva program.
This was the final weekend for the cadets who finished with a season record of 14-2.
Congratulations to all of the cadets for a great season!!
C’s face Cardinals in semi-final series
The Challengers will face the defending champion Bern Cardinals in their best-of-five semi-final series, after the Carinals clinched first place after the qualification round with a 12-1 victory in Game 1 against the Embrach Mustangs on Saturday, September 15. The C’s are leading the season series against the Cardinals 3-1. Game 1 will take place on Saturday, September 22 at Bern, Game 2 will be played on Sunday, September 23 at the Heerenschürli ballpark. The Therwil Flyers will face the Embrach Mustangs in the other semi-final series.
Weiterlesen » C’s face Cardinals in semi-final seriesLandis gets his 100th career win
Challengers pitcher Thomas Landis reached a milestone, as the right hander got his 100th career win on Thursday night, September 13 at the Heerenschürli ballpark against the Zürich Lions. Landis worked two scoreless innings of relief, as the Challengers cruised to an easy 15-2 victory over the Lions. He is the first pitcher in the history of Swiss baseball to win 100 games. Landis recorded his 99th career win on July 18, 2010 against the Luzern Eagles.
The Challengers finish the qualification round in fourth place with an 18-10 record and will face either the reigning champion Bern Cardinals or the Therwil Flyers in the best-of-five semi-final series. Game 1 will take place on Saturday, September 22. The C’s won ten of their last eleven games to clinch the playoff berth after being 0.5 games below .500 on July 22. The last time the Challengers recorded 18 wins in a season was in 2002, as they finished the qualification round with a 18-2 record. The C’s beat the Flyers 3-1 in the 2002 best-of-five final series to celebrate their seventh out of eight Swiss championship titles.
Read the interview with Thomas Landis on swiss-baseball.ch
Rainout games will not be made up
The games between the Challengers and the SG Eagles/Challengers and the double header between the Luzern Eagles and the SG Eagles/Challengers that all have been rained out on Saturday, September 1 will not be made up, as all the games will not have any impact on the standings. The games between the Zürich Barracudas and the SG Eagles/Challengers scheduled for June 2 will not be rescheduled too.
The Challengers finish the season with a 9-13 record in fifth place. The C’s missed the playoffs for the first time in team history. The SG Eagles/Challengers finish the season in seventh place with a 0-18 record.
Night Game am Donnerstag
Die Challengers treffen am Donnerstag, 13. September in ihrem letzten Night Game der Saison 2012 auf den Stadtrivalen Zürich Lions. Die Challengers haben alle drei bisherigen Stadtderbys in dieser Saison gegen die Lions gewonnen. Spielbeginn ist um 19.00 Uhr.
Weiterlesen » Night Game am DonnerstagC’s sweep Cardinals, clinch playoff berth
The Challengers (17-10) won twice against the first-placed Bern Cardinals (22-4) on Sunday, September 9 at the Heerenschürli ballpark. The C’s clinched the playoff berth for the 14th time since 1997 by posting an 11-8 victory over the Cardinals in Game 1. Tobias Siegrist tossed a complete game for the win, while the offense put together 14 hits. Robert Sedin went 3-for-4 and Jesus Martinez drove in three runs. With this victory the Challengers extended their lead over the fifth-placed Zürich Barracudas to two games.
But the Challengers weren’t done yet. They added another win, as they edged the Cardinals 5-3 in Game 2. Harry Bregy scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh, while Andrea Girasole (8-4) got the win with two innings of work and Robert Sedin notched his second save with two scoreless innings to shut the door.
The Challengers will play the Zürich Lions in their last game of the qualification round on Thursday, September 13 at 7pm.