Challengers 19, Barracudas 7

The Challengers captured their first Swiss Championship Title since 1986 by completing a sweep against the Zurich Barracudas.

Thomas Landis>

Thomas Landis again mastered the Barracudas and earned his 11th win of the season.

After beating the Barracudas 12-11 and 13-8 in two close games, this one was a blow-out and was called with two outs in the eighth inning due to the 10-run mercy rule.

The Challengers were first to score in the bottom of the third, the first time the Challengers did so in this Series.

Patrick Bosshard got on on an error by third baseman Sandro Giambonini and Saentis Zeller followed with his 5th homer of the season.

The Barracudas tied the game in the top of the fourth on Marc Riva's two-run shot, his second homer in the series.

And they even got ahead the next inning as pitcher Ueli Von Burg added yet another two-run homer for a 4-2 lead after 5 1/2 innings of play.

Starter Ueli Von Burg lasted 7 1-3 innings in which he gave up 15 runs - four of them unearned - on 14 hits and two walks.

But the Challengers tied it up again on back-to-back RBI-doubles by Zeller and Andreas Mathis.

The Barracudas again reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth by scoring three times on RBI-singles by Stefan Suter and Ali Killer. One more run scored on a rundown between second and first base, during which Suter scored from third for a 7-4 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Challengers regained the lead for good. The first six batters reached on a single by Anubis Benitez, an error by Francois Riva, his first of two errors in this inning, Gary Kochlefl's three-run homer, Bryan Shemley's and Bosshard's singles, and Zeller's second homer of the game, a three-run shot to left center field.

Starter Ueli Von Burg (5-3) then finally managed the first out by retiring Andreas Mathis on a ground out to second.

Marc Riva connects for a two-run homer in the fourth inning off Landis to tie the game.

But the Challengers continued their assault as Landis reached on Francois Riva's second error, and Jose Valdez followed with a fielder's choice that was misplayed by third baseman Giambonini to put two runners on.

On yet another error, a bad pickoff throw by Von Burg to second, advanced the runners into scoring position, and Benitez' single and the ensuing throwing error by left fielder Ali Killer brought both runners home. Benitez tried to stretch his single into a double and was easily thrown out at second.

Roger Brunner>

Roger Brunner hit just one double in nine at-bats in the Series but set career highs in all major offensive categories.

But by that time, the Challengers took a commanding 12-7 lead and the Barracudas seemed to already have given it up.

They didn't score anymore in the final two innings as Landis (11-2) pitched his ninth complete game of the season and second in this Series to pick up his league-leading 11th win of the season.

On the other hand, after a scoreless seventh inning, the Challengers put the icing on the cake by sending nine batters to the plate in the eighth to score eight runs and end the game prematurely.

Zeller led it off with his record fourth double of the Series and Andreas Mathis grounded out for the first out.

Landis hit an RBI-single and Valdez followed with a double to put two runners into scoring position.

That finished Von Burg's day on the mound and Francois Riva came on to stop the bleeding. But he was greeted by Benitez with an RBI-single, and Armin Blickenstorfer">Armin Blickenstorfer's run-scoring fielder's choice extended the Challengers' lead to 15-7.

Benny Räber followed with a walk, and Nick Lehmann collected his second hit of the Series, an RBI-single up the middle.

The Barracudas' bullpen had to be activated again as Giambonini relieved Riva.

And newly-acquired Manny Marchant was the only batter Giambonini had to face as he belted a three-run homer that ended the game and won the Championship for the Challengers.

Marvin Moore>

Marvin Moore had to take a drowning after winning his first title with the Challengers.

Emotions ran high after the game since the Challengers had to wait 12 years for this, and had to bear with the pressure of being the favorites all year long.

Landis' 11 wins are the second-best performance by a Challenger, trailing only his own record set last year with 12. He also led all Challenger pitchers in games started (13), complete games (9), games pitched (17), innings pitched (107.2 and a new career high) and 102 strikeouts. Battingwise, he was the best with 104 at-bats, 43 hits, 36 RBI's, eight round-trippers and two sacrifices.

In what might have been his last game for the Challengers, Saentis Zeller went 4-for-5, including two doubles and two homers to go along with six RBI's and four runs scored. He finished the season with career-highs in RBI's (29) and stolen bases (19). His lifetime batting average in the NLA of .427 is highest amongst active players and only trails Adris Linares' average of .550 with the Challengers.

Benitez went 3-for-4 to secure his first batting title with the Challengers with a .464 average. He also led all Challengers with a .845 slugging percentage, a .554 on-base percentage, 17 doubles - a new Challengers single season record - and 71 total bases.

Roger Brunner had just one hit in 9 at-bats in the Series, but finished the season with six doubles, five home runs, 29 RBI's, 23 hits, 22 runs scored and seven stolen bases in 74 at-bats, all career highs.

Bryan Shemley's two-run single with two outs in the ninth in Game 1 was the game winner. He had a .364 batting average in the Series and .293 on the season. His four homers and 18 RBI's set new career highs.

Armin Blickenstorfer had just six at-bats in the series but he collected three hits in them, all coming in Game 1. He wasn't hit by a pitch, but nevertheless leads all Challengers with 14 career hit-by-pitches.

Nick Lehmann went just 2-for-8 in the series and finished the season with a .296 batting average, 10 RBI's and one homer, all marking career-highs.