As on Friday the Challengers lost to their cross-town rivals Zurich Barracudas on Saturday. The Challengers are still too patchy, especially on the offensive they are not yet running on all cylinders.
While Friday’s game was tight almost halfway, the Barracudas put up five runs in Saturday’s game in the second inning. It wasn’t until the fifth inning that the Challengers found their way onto the scoreboard. Simon Steffen brought home Nick Siemers with an RBI-single. Hope germinated in the sixth frame. After oldie Thomas Landis came on base with a single and Ryan Byrne with a bunt single, the pressure on the Barracudas defense increased. Indeed, Landis scored on a wild pitch and with the bases loaded, Nick Siemers managed a walk before Carlos Nepomuceno was hit by a pitch, allowing the Challengers to reduce the gap to 4-5.
But instead of the momentum tipping over to the side of the home team, the whole thing turned out to be a flash in the pan. The Barracudas responded immediately with two runs and added three more runs in the ninth inning to finally win again by a solid 10-4.

In the first city derby of the season the Zurich Barracudas clearly prevailed 11-3 on Friday evening. They decide what has been a tight game over five frames with six runs in the sixth inning.
The game was dominated by the defense of both teams for a long time. The score was only 1-1 after five innings. An RBI-single from James Sanders that brought home Carlos Nepomuceno evened the visitors’ early lead in the second inning. But the Barracudas took fire in the sixth inning, which should be decisive. Challengers starter Simon Steffen showed another strong performance and allowed three hits only with one walk and three strikeouts. But in the sixth inning, after two walks and a hit-by-pitch, he was faced with loaded bases. And the Barracudas resolutely took advantage of the opportunity. With four hits and a sac bunt they managed to go ahead 7-1, a deficit the Challengers were unable to recover. Although they were also able to load the bases in the sixth frame, a walk by Säntis Zeller, which brought home Patrick Maier, was the only countable result.
In the end, the Barracudas clearly prevailed 11-3 in a good and exciting game. In contrast to the Challengers, they converted their scoring opportunities far better. The home team stranded no fewer than 15 baserunners while scoring just three runs. Challenger’s coach Thomas Burger made several changes at the end of the game, so that Noam Blickenstorfer and Jack Siemers made their NLA debut. The second game of the two-game series will take place on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at the Heerenschürli ballpark.

The Challengers celebrate two victories against the Bern Cardinals on Saturday. From the fifth inning of game one the C’s are dominant and win twice with the Mercy Rule.
Leonel Sosa Marte opened the score with an RBI triple in the first inning. Patrick Maier found the right answer to the visitors’ equalizer with an RBI single, Ryan Byrne added a sac fly and James Sanders another RBI single to make it 4-1. Once again, the Cardinals came close with some help from the Challengers defense, but from Marco Limacher’s RBI single in the fifth inning the game went in one direction only. With eight runs in the seventh inning the Challengers selt the deal.
Pitcher Simon Steffen had a strong performance, delivering a complete game and giving up three hits and four runs only – two earned – without a walk, but with eight strikeouts. Ryan Byrne, Nick Siemers and Marco Limacher each had three hits of a total of 16 dekivered by the Challengers.
The Cardinals got two runs in the second game in the first inning, but the hope of taking home a W was over pretty quickly. The Challengers offense picked up where it left off in game one. With seven hits they produced six runs in the bottom of the first and from then on there was never any doubt about the outcome of the game. Again the Challengers won early with 13-3. Nick Siemers had two hits and three RBIs, and Leonel Sosa Marte and Patrik Maier also had two hits.