Challengers drop second game 20-8 to Barracudas

The Challengers finished the Qualification Round with a disappointing 3-5 record by losing the final game 20-8 to their cross-town rivals Zürich Barracudas.

	Reliever Harry Bregy pitched the final two innings.

Nevertheless, the Challengers have earned a Playoff berth while the Barracudas still have to hope that the Sissach Frogs lose all of their three remaining games.

The Challengers, still weakened by no-shows of Nick Lehmann, Jose Valdez and Benny Räber, used a patchwork pitching lineup against a strong offensive Barracuda team.

Rookie Oliver Labhart had his second start in the NLA, but lasted only 1 2-3 innings, giving up six runs - four of them unearned - on three hits and two walks, while also striking out two.

Reliever Manny Marchant - who already pitched 1 2-3 innings in Game 1, worked the next 3 1-3 innings with little success.

He gave up 10 runs on 11 hits and four walks while striking out only one batter, raising his ERA to 8.33 in the process.

Harry Bregy took over for the final two innings, allowing four more runs on three hits and four walks.

The Challengers' offense also ran on half the power, scoring only eight runs on 12 hits.

The Barracudas, on the other hand, scored six runs in both the second and third innings to take a quick 12-3 lead.

Unfortunately, four of those runs were unearned as third baseman Kurt Kovac threw away Dani Stähli's grounder in the second inning.

Closer James Sanders of the Barracudas pitched the final three innings in convincing fashion, allowing only an unearned run to score in the bottom of the fifth inning.

He also finished with three hits in six at-bats, and also collected six RBI's.

For the Challengers, only rookie Chris Hardy was able to convince, playing a solid defense and getting three hits in four at-bats.

Game notes
Anubis Benitez struck out three times for already the second time this season. He leads the team with 17 whiffs, seven ahead of second-placed Patrick Zöllig. ...Tobias Siegrist's double in the fifth inning was his 50th double, and his 150th hit of his NLA career.