Flyers outbattle Challengers 5-4 in 8 innings

The Challengers and Therwil Flyers met for the first time this season in a preview match of a possible Swiss Final.

	Alain Kurz dominated the Challengers for most parts of the game, striking out seven and allowing eight hits in eight innings.

The Flyers needed an extra inning to beat the Challengers by one run, and winning their 11th game in a row this season.

They jumped on starter Benny Räber in the first inning and scored three times on Daniel Eichenberger's RBI-double and Djibril Traore's two-run single with two outs.

Meanwhile, Flyer starter Alain Kurz allowed only three baserunners in the first three innings to keep up his team's slim 3-0 lead.

The Challengers managed to score an unearned run off him in the top of the fourth inning when center fielder Stefan Siegel dropped Jose Valdez' high fly ball. He went on to score on Chris Palatinus' RBI-double two batters later.

But the Flyers got that one run back in the bottom of the fifth on Roy Allenspach's solo homer to lead off the inning.

Räber was done pitching after the fifth frame. He allowed four runs - all of them earned - on 11 hits and no walks. He also struck out three.

Manny Marchant relieved and shut down the Flyers over the next two innings.

His team came up to bat in the top of the seventh and final inning, still trailing 4-1.

	Tobias Siegrist had a team-high two hits, one of them was his career-high 11th double of the season.

Palatinus led off with a double, and scored two batters later on Tobias Siegrist's RBI-double.

Joe Cox was issued a base-on-balls, and Anubis Benitez plated Siegrist with his first hit of the game, a sharp single up the middle.

Nick Lehmann was next and he drove a pitch by Kurz into left center field for a double. Cox scored and Benitez tried to score all the way from first base. The throw by left fielder Koller was an accurate one to home plate, and Benitez appeared to have evaded catcher Allenspach's tag. But home plate umpire Roger Savoldelli called Benitez out, and no more runners scored after that.

The two teams entered the eighth inning tied at four apiece.

The Challengers managed to put a runner into scoring position when Marchant singled, advanced on Palatinus' sac bunt to second, and also went to third on Siegrist's sac fly to center field with two outs.

Cox stepped to the plate and he looked at three straight strikes by Kurz for the third out.

	Djibril Traore did the most damage with his two hits and two RBI's.

The Flyers then led off the bottom half of the inning with a walk to Koller, and an error by pitcher Marchant with no outs.

No. 9 batter Stefan Siegel sacrificed the runners to third and second with another bunt, and Reto Siegel was issued a walk to load the bases after getting four hits in his previous four at-bats.

With the outfield drawn in, Fernando Abril hit a weak grounder to shortstop Cox who wasn't able to make the throw home in time, and enabled the Flyers to get the win in extra innings.

Game notes: Blickenstorfer received three walks and now leads all Challengers with 11. ...The Challengers had their first homerless game of the season, and also weren't able to score at least 10 runs for the first time this season.