Challengers hand Flyers first loss of the season with 13-6 win

The Challengers used a big fifth inning to trash the previously unbeaten Therwil Flyers 13-6 in game 1 of Sunday's doubleheader.

	Jose Valdez went 5-for-5 but remained homerless for the third straight game.

Starting for the Flyers was Reto Siegel, and he managed to retire the first two batters he faced, before allowing a steal of home by Thomas Landis, and an RBI-double by opposing pitcher Manny Marchant for a quick 2-0 Challenger lead.

The Flyers responded with an RBI-single by Roy Allenspach, but that would be the only run Marchant would give up during his three innings of work. He was replaced by Landis in the bottom of the fourth, because foreign pitchers are allowed to pitch no more than three innings.

	Reto Siegel was roughed up for eight runs - three of them unearned - in 4 1-3 innings.

The only other run that was scored by either team in the first four innings came on a throwing error by Siegel which enabled Jose Valdez to score an unearned run.

Then the Challengers really came alive in the top of the fifth as they sent 13 batters to the plate who scored eight times against Siegel and reliever Kleiber. There were no extra-base hits, but six singles and two errors which made six of those eight runs unearned.

The Flyers were able to rebound from that onslaught, and scored five runs themselves in the bottom of the inning. It was highlighted by Kurz's two-run double off reliever Landis with two outs to close the gap to 11-6.

But Landis (4-0) didn't allow any more Flyer to cross the plate in the final two innings by giving up just one more hit while striking out three, earning his fourth win of the season.

	Manny Marchant got two hits and collected a game-high three RBI's.

The Challengers on the other hand added one run in each of the final two innings. One came on rookie Tobias Siegrist's first homer in the NLA, and the other on the Flyers' fifth error of the game that enabled Landis to score from third base.

Game Notes: Brunner moved into eighth place on the Challengers' alltime leaders in hits with his 105th hit, surpassing Dario Rinaldi. ...Landis passed Werner Zingg and moved into 6th place on the Challengers alltime leaders in stolen bases with his 83rd steal of his career. ...Prior to this weekend, the Flyers had won all of their 18 regular season games, including two wins against the Challengers on May 30.