Frogs trash Challengers 16-2

The Challengers were baffled by both Claudio Heim's strong pitching and the Sissach Frogs' offense's ability to find the holes and get some nice hitting done in a 16-2 rout in Game 2 of Sunday's doubleheader.

	Thomas Blank's helpless dive was symbolic for the Challengers' inability to turn hits into outs.

The Frogs scored in all but one inning, combining 19 hits and seven walks for 16 runs.

Every Frog scored at least one run and had at least one hit, with four of them even having three.

In the opening innings, the Frogs profited from starter
Thomas Landis' problems to find the strike zone.

He walked five batters in the first two innings, and also hit one batter.

The Frogs also added some timely hits, combining for five singles and a double by playing coach Abe Balsamo to score six times in the first three innings.

The Challengers, on the other hand, struggled against starter Claudio Heim, managing only to score two runs on two hits.

	Rookie Oliver Labhart went 2-for-2.

Roger Brunner relieved Landis to start the fourth inning, but he allowed the first four batters he faced to reach base safely.

Three batters later, the Frogs scored three more runs to take a 9-1 lead after just four innings.

But it got worse as they erupted for six runs in the fifth frame.

13 batters walked to the plate, and seven of them had a hit. Heim showed mercy with the home team and was responsible for two outs by himself that inning.

Brunner managed to blank the Frogs in the sixth before they got one more run in the final inning on Ivano Piaia's solo homer.

It was a nice redemption for Piaia for a pretty bad day.

In the first game of the doubleheader, he grounded into two 5-3 double plays and also committed three errors, and in this game, he ended the first inning by lining into a 4-3 double play.

His homer was the first given up by a Challenger pitcher this year.

Game notes
The last time the Challengers gave up 19 hits or more was on September 29, 2001 when the Zürich Barracudas combined for 20 hits off three Challenger pitchers.