Challengers improve to 7-1 with 10-6 over Rainbows

The Challengers got their fourth win in a row by sweeping the Embrach Rainbows 10-6 in Game 2 of Sunday's doubleheader at the Heerenschürli.

	Patrick Zöllig pitched just two innings before leaving with a stiff shoulder.

After losing 19-3 in Game 1, the Rainbows equaled their output from the previous game in the first inning already. Robles had a two-run blast and Campassi hit a solo shot off rookie Patrick Zöllig in the first inning to put their team up quickly 3-0.

But the Challengers didn't panic and tied the score on Anubis Benitez' solo homer to lead off the Challengers' offense, Thomas Landis' RBI-double, and Manny Marchant's run-scoring ground out.

Zöllig shut the Rainbows down in the second inning but had to leave the game due to stiffness in his shoulder. He already pitched five innings the day before in the NLB.

He was relieved by Oli Christen who pitched the next three innings, giving up only a single and no runs to earn his second win of the season. He lowered his ERA to 0.99 in the process.

	Anubis Benitez went 3-for-4 to give him a team-leading .595 batting average.

The Challengers were efficiently locked down by Roger Savoldelli over the next three innings. Nevertheless, they scored twice in the third inning on Landis' team-leading seventh homer, a solo shot, and Francisco Grinan's RBI-single with two outs.

Entering the bottom of the sixth, the Challengers hung on to a slim 6-3 lead. But they managed four runs off Savoldelli on Landis' second double of the game, and Marchant's two-run homer, his sixth of the season, to give his team a 10-3 lead.

Landis took over on the mound for the Challengers by the start of the sixth inning, and everything looked fine until his defense started to wear down, committing two errors and a gicing up a passed ball in the top of the seventh.

The Rainbows managed to score three times, but they killed their own rally as Savoldelli tried to advance to third from first on Adris Linares' single with two outs.

Game Notes: Nick Lehmann's double in the sixth inning were his 150th and 151st total bases of his NLA-career. ...Landis' double in the sixth inning was his 80th double in the NLA. ...Benitez' homer in the first inning was his 20th homer with the Challengers.