Cardinals tie Series at 1-1 with 23-15 bashing

Things didn't start well for Roger Brunner and the Challengers, and they didn't improve, either.

	Roger Brunner pitched for the first time in almost a year.

The Cardinals trashed the Challengers 23-15 with heavy hitting and tough pitching, knotting the best-of-5 Series at one apiece.

The Challengers used Brunner as an emergency starter, and he lasted 5+ innings in his first appearance since pitching the Championship clincher against the Therwil Flyers on September 29 of last year.

But the Cardinals put runners on base in each of his innings pitched.

In the end, Brunner faced 38 batters, giving up 12 runs on 12 hits and eight walks while striking out eight.

Still, he kept his team in the game as his offense also profited from Christoph Beyeler's mediocre performance, and Severin Fries' problems in the middle innings.

The Cards opened the game by drawing three consecutive walks, all of which went on to score.

The Challengers responded with seven runs of their own.

Thomas Landis and Manny Marchant hit back-to-back doubles, Brunner helped his own cause by hitting an RBI-double, and three errors helped push four unearned runs over the plate.

Fries was brought on after Beyeler had faced just eight batters to extinguish the fire, but three more Challengers reached safely to take a 7-3 lead after the first frame.

	Nick Lehmann had just one hit in five at-bats and also struck out twice.

Four runs on four hits and two walks in the top of the second inning was all the Cardinals needed to knot the score at 7-7.

Fries kept the Challengers in check after that, and his offense added one more run in the third inning for an 8-7 lead.

The Challengers managed to retake the lead as they scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth frame on
Tobias Siegrist's RBI-triple and Chris Palatinus' run-scoring ground out to right field.

The Cardinals answered with two runs of their own as Fries and Ron Zimmermann hit consecutive doubles.

Curtis Volk followed with an RBI-single for a 10-9 lead.

The Challengers weren't finished and came right back.

After three walks in his first three at-bats, Anubis Benitez hit a double, and went on to score as catcher Haas' tried to nail Harry Bregy at second base in a first-and-third situation.

But the throw went into center field, enabling Benitez to score and Bregy to go to third base.

Landis drew a walk, and Manny Marchant followed with a line drive to left field, scoring both Bregy and Landis for a 12-10 lead.

But then, things fell apart for the Challengers.

Brunner completely lost his control and was yanked after the first two batters in the top of the sixth inning reached safely.

Marchant took over, but was greeted by Raphael Hänzi with an RBI-single.

	Haas had the biggest hit of 'em all as he connects for a grand salami in the sixth inning.

After an error by third baseman Benitez, Angelo Rodriguez scored the tying run, and Marchant (0-3) blew his second save of the season.

Four more batters reached safely before Marchant finally managed to get the second out, but he promptly again loaded the bases by issuing a single to Rodriguez and a hit-by-pitch on Hänzi.

Haas took the opportunity to smack a grand slam homer over the center field fences to blow the game wide open.

After that, the two teams settled down and scored two runs each in the final three innings for the final score of 23-15 for the Cards.

With that win, the Series is tied and become a best-of-3 Series, with Game 3 in Bern on Saturday, and Game 4 at the Heerenschürli on Sunday at 2pm.

Game notes
Siegrist set a new Challengers single-season record by hitting his third triple of the season in the fourth inning. ...Palatinus' stolen base in the first inning moved him into a tie for eighth place on the alltime career list. ...The 64 batters faced by Brunner and Marchant eclipsed the previous high of 54 set on August 25, 2001 by Bregy, Brunner and Marchant.