Rainbows upset Challengers 11-5

For the first time ever, a Challenger NLA-team lost to the Rainbows, as they were upset 11-5 in game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader at Embrach.

	Roger Brunner gave up 11 runs on 11 hits, and earned his 2nd loss of the season.

The Rainbows got a good start and scored twice on Gulati's RBI-triple and former Challenger Adris Linares' RBI-single off starter Roger Brunner in the first inning, while the Challengers were held scoreless through the first three innings by Rainbow starter Takehara.

Takehara gave up just two hits and struck out two in his three innings of work, but had to leave the mound because of the rule that says that foreign pitchers aren't allowed to pitch more than three innings.

The Challengers came to life when reliever Schittenhelm took over for Takehara. They promptly scored four unearned runs in the top of the fourth on Chris Palatinus' run-scoring ground out, Bryan Shemley's RBI-double and RBI-singles by Brunner and rookie Tobias Siegrist to take a 4-2 lead.

But the Rainbows weren't impressed by that and sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom half of the inning to score seven runs, four of which were unearned because of three defensive errors.

No. 9 batter Ritler had a two-run single, Schittenhelm hit a two-run double off Brunner and two run-scoring ground outs by Linares and Takehara closed out the scoring for the Rainbows.

	Francisco-Robles and his Rainbow offense used a big fourth inning to score seven runs and secure the win.

The Challengers managed just to get one run back in the next inning on Nick Lehmann's RBI-single off reliever Roger Savoldelli.

The Rainbows then scored their final runs in the bottom of the sixth on Gulati's second extra-base hit of the game - an RBI-double -, and Takehara's RBI-single for the final score of 11-5.

Except against Schittenhelm, the Challengers made a bad figure against the Rainbow pitchers. They managed just one walk while being struck out four times, and collecting only nine hits.

Schittenhelm nevertheless was credited with the win, and Savoldelli received the save for pitching the final three innings.

Game Notes: Brunner's at-bat in the sixth inning, a ground out to second, was his 300th of his NLA-career. ...Lehmann tied his NLA-career best by scoring his 22nd run of the season.