Challengers dominate Frogs 23-2

Benny Räber struck out 15 batters in a 23-2 win over the Sissach Frogs in game 1 of Sunday's doubleheader.

	Bryan Shemley and the Challenger offense put together 22 hits and also profited from 11 errors.

The Challengers went ahead in the first inning on RBI-singles by Roger Brunner and Nick Lehmann, but the Frogs came back to tie it on Stefan Lüthy's RBI-double and on an error by Räber, the only Challenger error of the game.

After taking a 6-2 lead after three innings, the Challengers profited from six errors in the fourth inning to score eight runs, of which seven were unearned.

Meanwhile, Räber (2-3) continued to master the Frogs by allowing just six baserunners in the first four innings. He struck out the side in the 2nd inning, and again did it in the sixth inning. He finished with a career-high 15 K's while allowing only two runs - one of them unearned - on only two hits and four walks. He also lowered his ERA from 7.91 to 6.15.

	Bad baserunning - like above as Nick Lehmann is caught stealing second - again cost the Challengers some runs.

Bad baserunning - like above as Nick Lehmann is caught stealing second - again cost the Challengers some runs.
Going into the final inning, the game was already decided with the Challengers holding a comfortable 14-2 lead. But they had some fireworks left and scored nine more runs to close the scoring at 23-2.

Armin Blickenstorfer">Armin Blickenstorfer set a new career-high by hitting his sixth homer in that final inning, a three-run shot over the left-field fences.

	Benny Räber Pitcher Benny Räber
	1999 SEASON STATISTICS IP W L SV SO ERA 26.1 2 3 0 39 6.38

Two batters later, Chris Palatinus set a new career-high of his own with his 8th double of the year.

Game Notes: Armin Blickenstorfer singled in his 300th NLA at-bat in the 3rd inning. ...Rookie Willy Schaub struck out in his first NLA at-bat, but hit an RBI-single in his second appearance. He also went on to score his first run.