Challengers force Game 5 by beating Cards 21-18

The Semifinals Series between the Challengers and the Bern Cardinals will go down to a winner-takes-it-all Game 5 next Saturday.

	Starter Oli Labhart gave his team 2 1-3 solid innings.

The Cards took a 2-1 lead by winning 12-3 on Saturday, but with the help of a new pitching combination, the Challengers came back and won 21-18 on Sunday to tie the Series at two apiece.

Starter Oliver Labhart did all that was asked of him, and reliever Tobias Siegrist exceled and got the win in his first pitching appearance in the NLA.

Siegrist (1-0) pitched 4 1-3 innings, allowing six runs on four hits, three walks and two hit-by-pitches.

Eight of the 13 outs he pitched came via strikeout.

All six runs he gave up came in the seventh inning, and three of them were inherited by reliever Patrick Zöllig.

Zöllig didn't manage to record an out facing six batters, so Thomas Landis, who pitched 6+ innings the day before, had to be called on.

He pitched the final 2 1-3 innings and recorded his first save since the Championship-clinching Game 5 against the Therwil Flyers on October 2, 1999.

	Tobias Siegrist pitched 4 1-3 innings for his first career win in the NLA.

The cozy confines of the Heerenschürli again led to a barrage with a total of 39 runs, topping Game 2's total of 38 runs last Sunday.

Cardinals starter Christoph Beyeler again didn't survive the first inning.

After pitching to just eight batters in Game 2, he faced only seven batters times time.

He left the mound with just one out recorded, giving way to reliever Ron Zimmermann.

But Zimmermann had trouble finding the strike zone, walking three of the four batters he faced to load the bases.

Thanks to an old trick, he managed to pick Kurt Kovac off third base to escape the jam.

After a scoreless second inning, the Cardinals figured out Labhart the second time through the lineup and tied the score by pushing six runners across the plate.

Labhart hit two batters with a pitch, Angelo Rodriguez added a three-run homer, and five more singles made Labhart's day.

Siegrist took over in a convincing fashion, inducing Chuck Vail Jr. to hit into a fielder's choice, and blowing away Frank Zimmermann with his fastballs to end the inning.

The Challengers, motivated by Siegrist's overpowering pitching display, gave him some offensive support.

They scored three runs in both the third and fourth innings off Zimmermann and Severin Fries.

The Cards tried to mix up the Challengers' rhythm by alternating Fries and Zimmermann on the mound, but it backfired as the Challengers stayed patient and profited from Zimmermann's lack of control, and then jumped on Fries' fastballs and ripped him for six runs in the sixth inning.

	Harry Bregy had one of six Challengers steals, compared to just one by the Cardinals.

Landis homered twice off Zimmermann, and had a double off Fries, rookie Thomas Blank hit a two-run single, and Siegrist helped his own cause by homering and hitting a sac fly.

With a 20-6 lead after six innings, the Challengers settled down and brought in their substitutes, replacing Kovac with Blank and Manny Marchant with Manuel Schretzmann.

The Cardinals didn't refuse to lose, and threatened in the top of the seventh inning.

Siegrist started to tire and was replaced by Zöllig, but it seemed that his long pitching layoff was almost too much.

He last pitched on May 24 against the Reussbühl Eagles.

He could have come out of the inning, but with two outs, replacement shortstop Benny Räber fumbled Fries' grounder, prolonging the inning, and eventually enabling Aris Ramos' grand slam homer two batters later.

After another muff by Räber, Landis took over and struck out Frank Zimmermann to end the huge inning, in which the Cards scored 11 times to get within three runs.

After that, the two teams settled down, and Landis and Fries again dueled each other, each allowing one more earned run for the final score of 21-18.

Game 5 will take place in Bern on September 20 at 2pm.

Game notes
Benitez was walked for the 100th time in the NLA in the third inning. ...Marchant collected his 200th career RBI by singling home Chris Palatinus in the first inning. ...Roger Brunner scored the franchise's 5'500th run in the first inning.