Flyers score 10 in final inning to secure 16-2 win

The Therwil Flyers set the tone in Sunday's doubleheader with a dominating 16-2 win in the first contest.

	Chris Hardy went 1-for-2 in his NLA debut in 2003.

A big 10-run seventh inning made a close game look like a blowout in the end.

But it was a well played game through six innings in which the Flyers hung on to a slim 6-2 lead.

Starter Thomas Landis threw a good game in his 98th career start in the NLA, allowing six runs on eight hits, one base-on-balls and a hit-by-pitch in the first six innings.

The Flyers' Daniel Eichenberger put his team ahead in the first inning with a three-run blast over the center-field fences.

Eichenberger later added three ground-rule doubles to give him a 4-for-5 performance, also collecting a game-high five RBI's.

The Challengers got on the board with an unearned run off starter Stefan Koller in the third inning, but Reto Siegel's RBI-single in the next inning restored the old three-run lead.

Kurt Kovac's solo homer in the bottom of the fourth inning - his first of the season - brought his team again within two runs, but the Flyers pulled all the right triggers to get that run back - and then some more.

After a scoreless sixth inning, the two longtime rivals were seemingly locked in another down-to-the-wire showdown.

But the Flyers had their say and erupted for ten unanswered runs in the final inning.

15 batters combined for six doubles - two each by Eichenberger and Brett Cumisky -, two singles, three walks and a hit-by-pitch off Landis and reliever Harry Bregy to seal the deal.

Game notes
The last time the Challengers got knocked around by the Flyers in a similar way was on July 26, 1998 when they lost 12-0 to a team led by pitcher Alain Kurz. ...Landis grounded out to second baseman Seppi Zwyer in his 200th at-bat against the Flyers. ...Three players from the NLB were used to make up for Manny Marchant's and Jose Valdez' absences. They went a combined 1-for-5 with Chris Hardy getting the only hit.