Challengers triple up Devils 18-6

The Challengers scored in every inning to beat the Wil Devils 16-4 in game of Saturday's doubleheader at the Heerenschürli.

	Roger Brunner had a game-high four hits in five at-bats to give him a team-leading .650 batting average.

The Challengers started by putting their first five runners on base, but two of them were immediately caught stealing third base. Devil catcher Fillinger threw out Thomas Landis , then nailed Manny Marchant moments later.

But still two runners scored on Landis' and Roger Brunner's RBI-singles.

They added two more in the second inning on Joe Cox' RBI-single and Anubis Benitez' run-scoring ground out.

Devils starter Isenring then allowed the first four Challengers to reach in the third inning, and they went on to score five times for a convincing 9-1 lead after just three frames.

	Oli Christen Pitcher Oli Christen
	1999 SEASON STATISTICS IP W L SV SO ERA 13 2 0 0 12 2.08

Meanwhile, Challengers starter Oli Christen showed yet another fine performance on the mound by allowing just one unearned run and one hit through the first five innings. In his last appearance, he pitched a complete-game one-hitter against the Sissach Frogs on May 9, and allowed just a single run.

He now has a miniscule 2.08 ERA in 13 innings pitched this season.

	Jose Valdez hit homers no. 7 and 8 of the season.

The Challengers weren't finished after the third inning and continued their torrid hitting in the next inning.

Jose Valdez belted his seventh homer to lead of the inning. He later added his eighth four-bagger in the sixth inning, a three-run shot for the last runs of the game.

As some of the big sluggers, except of course Valdez, remained relatively cool in the game, others came through with fine performances: Bryan Shemley had two doubles, one of them for two runs, Brunner had a season-high four singles in his five at-bats, and Cox hit his first homer in the NLA for the Challengers.

	Nick Lehmann hits a two-run double in the fifth inning.

Armin Blickenstorfer">Armin Blickenstorfer coached the Challengers after Marchant was released as the head coach of the Challengers' first team. He inserted himself in the bottom of the sixth inning as a pinch-hitter for Marchant and promptly hit a double.He later scored on Valdez' homer just a few pitches later.

Valdez also pitched the last inning and allowed his first earned run in 5 1-3 innings pitched this season.