Challengers take Series opener 14-1

A strong offense and an even stronger pitching performance by Thomas Landis combined for the Challengers' 14-1 victory in Game 1 of their Playoff Semifinals with the Reussbühl Eagles.

	Thomas Landis hit his team-leading 14th double of the season and also pitched five masterful innings.

The Challengers' offense used the cozy confinements of their ballpark to combine for a season-high 10 extra-base hits, including seven doubles and three homers.

But the Eagles were completely shut down by starter Landis' outing. The only run the Eagles scored all day came on a hit-by-pitch to Jerome Müller with the bases loaded in the fifth inning.

Other than that, Landis allowed only three hits - only one of them for a double -, three walks, and he also struck out six for his fifth win of the season.

The Challengers sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning against starter Alston Brooks without even recording an out.

Landis hit a two-run homer - only his second of the year, and Manny Marchant, Roger Brunner and Kurt Kovac followed with hit three doubles that plated five runners.

The inning was ended abruptly after reliever Craig Gibson took the mound. With runners at the corners, Harry Bregy popped out to first base on a hit-and-run play, enabling the Eagles to easily double Chris Palatinus off first base, and then throwing out Kovac at the plate for a rare triple play.

	Jose Valdez connected for his team-leading seventh homer of the year in the third inning.

The Challengers added three more runs in the second inning on three consecutive doubles by Marchant, Jose Valdez and Brunner.

After Landis retired the ninth batter in order in the top of the third inning, Bregy connected for his first career NLA-homer, Marchant added an RBI-single, Valdez hit his team-leading seventh homer of the year, plus an error put five more runs on the board for the Challengers.

The only run the Eagles scored was equalized in the bottom half of the fifth inning on Gibson's fielding error for the final score of 14-1.

Marchant pitched the final two innings perfectly, retiring all six batters he faced, three of them on strikes.