Challengers beat Rainbows 14-13 in final at-bat

The Challengers rallied from an 8-1 deficit after 3 1/2 innings, and beat the Embrach Rainbows 14-13 in their final at-bat.

	Jose Valdez' 19th homer of the year was the difference in game 1.

Jose Valdez homered with two runners on and two outs in the bottom of the seventh for his 19th homer of the season, and the Challengers' 17th win of the season.

But before that, the Rainbows were in control of the game as they had leads of 8-1 and 13-8, but couldn't control the Challengers' red-hot offense, that has a combined .409 batting average and a slugging percentage of .740.

The Challenger defense again didn't hold up though, and committed three early errors that enabled the Rainbows to score twon unearned runs in the first two innings off starter Benny Räber.

	Thomas Landis had a game-high three hits and collected a season-high six RBI's.

The Rainbows went on to score three runs apiece in the third and fourth innings for an 8-1 lead. Catcher Gulati and former Challenger Adris Linares hit 2-run homers and Schittenhelm added an RBI-double.

But then, the Challengers regrouped, and started a comeback for seven runs on Chris Palatinus' RBI-single, Thomas Landis' grandslam homer and Manny Marchant's 2-run homer.

All seven runs were unearned as third baseman Takehara committed an error to lead off the inning, and the next two batters flied out for what would have been three outs.

	Benny Räber Pitcher Benny Räber
	1999 SEASON STATISTICS IP W L SV SO ERA 39.1 4 3 0 52 5.26

Starter Räber was replaced by Marchant in the top of the fifth and he quickly gave away the game. He allowed a triple to Takehara with the bases loaded, and Gulati followed with his second four-bagger of the game for a 13-8 Rainbow lead.

The Challengers managed to get three runs back on RBI-singles by Nick Lehmann and Landis, and a fielding error by center fielder Schittenhelm.

But the Rainbows were still leading 13-11, and reliever Valdez was given the job to shut down the Rainbows' offense for the final 2 1-3 innings.

	Anubis Benitez tried to steal another base in his quest to break the Challengers' team-record of 37, but came up short this time.

He did that, and then helped his own cause in the final inning.

Lehmann grounded out for the second out of the inning with Anubis Benitez on third. Landis then hit a single that scored Benitez to come within 13-12, and Valdez lined the first offering by reliever Franciso-Robles over the left-field fences for the 14-13 victory.

Game Notes: Landis' grandslam homer in the fourth inning was his 50th of his NLA-career and broke the Challengers' franchise record, set by Adris Linares from 1992-1995.