Challengers beat Devils 10-2 for 6th win in a row

Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader was a closer affair than the first contest for five innings, but the Challengers prevailed 10-2 against the Wil Devils.

	Manny Marchant missed this pitch, but hit his fourth homer of the season in the 5th inning.

This time though, the Devils managed to go ahead at least once as they managed to score a run off starter Manny Marchant who gave his NLA debut on the mound for the Challengers.

But it was Marchant's only earned run and he was replaced in the top of the fourth by Roger Brunner according to the rule that says that a Swiss pitcher must pitch at least four innings.

And Brunner did just that in great style, giving up zero runs, four hits and one base-on-balls, and striking out three for his second win of the season.

	Roger Brunner Pitcher, Outfielder Roger Brunner
	1999 SEASON STATISTICS AB R H RBI HR AVG 22 8 14 5 1 .636 IP W L SV SO ERA 8 2 0 0 6 1.13

One thing of interest was Brunner's balk in the sixth inning. It was only his second balk in seven seasons in the NLA. He had his first in his rookie season back in 1993.

When Brunner entered the game, his offense provided him with only a slim lead of 3-2. The Challengers scored all of their three runs in the first inning off Devils starter Rüegg. Marchant had an RBI-double, and Bryan Shemley and Nick Lehmann followed with back-to-back RBI-singles.

	Devils starter Rüegg gave up nine runs on nine hits, striking out none.

But after that, the Challengers found no recipe against Rüegg in the following two innings.

They managed just one run apiece in the fourth and fifth inning. One of them came on Marchant's solo homer in the fifth with two outs. It was his fourth homer of the season.

So the two teams entered the bottom of the sixth inning with a score of 5-2 in favor of the Challengers.

But then, the first three Challengers reached on three straight singles by Shemley, Lehmann and Brunner.

	Bryan Shemley tries to throw out a runner at second base, but comes up short.

Joe Cox reached on an error by third baseman Haltiner, and Chris Palatinus made them pay by sending the next pitch into the stands for a two-run homer, his first of the season.

Anubis Benitez and Thomas Landis followed with back-to-back doubles for the final runs of the game.

Roger Brunner has allowed only one earned run in eight innings pitched this season for an ERA of 1.13. He also leads all Challengers with a .636 batting average and 14 hits.

Jose Valdez had his first hitless game of the season, going 0-for-4 with two ground outs, a fly out, and reaching once on an error.

The Devils stranded at least one runner in scoring position in each inning.