Cards ends Challengers' season with 15-4 rout

The Challengers’ season ended with a big blowout against the Bern Cardinals.

The defending Swiss Champions from Bern trashed the Challengers 15-4, scoring eight times in the first inning and then never looking back.

Youngster Vitus Huber went 4-for-5, including his first homer of the season, and second of his career, Ron Zimmermann added four hits, although one of them really wasn’t one, and Christoph Beyeler picked up the win, despite pitching only one inning and giving up a three-run shot to Anthony Bennett.

The Cardinals also wasted 15 runners on base, 10 of them in scoring position, but it didn’t matter as they outhit their opponents 17-8.

The Cardinals sent 12 batters to the plate in the first inning against starter Thomas Burger and reliever Thomas Landis.

Six hits, three hit by pitches – all of them by Landis – and an error put a big eight on the board for the guests.

The Challengers couldn’t recover from that blow, and it took them four innings to get on the board.

Ramon Perez’ run-scroing ground out pushed Patrick Zöllig over the plate, but by then, the Cards were already leading 11-1.

In the fifth inning, the Challengers’ wheels fell off after a controversial call by base umpire Thomas Beier.

What appeared to be a spectacular leaping catch up the fence by Bennett was ruled not a catch by Beier. He ruled that the ball jumped out of Bennett’s glove after the catch, touching the fence, hence the runner being safe. But nobody really agreed, even the Cardinals were shaking their heads.

Even worse, by the time Bennett made the apparent catch, baserunner Johnny Perigos was only halfway from first base, with batter-runner Zimmermann having passed him on his way to second base.

Zimmermann retreated and Perigos eventually reached second after Beier’s call, but the Challengers’ Landis got so furios, that he got ejected by Beier.

The Challengers then even made an appeal at first base, but Beier never saw what went on and ruled both runners safe.

Of course, the game wasn’t lost because of that situation, but Beier’s handling of the situation was mind-boggling.

The Challengers managed to score three runs in the bottom half of the inning on Bennett’s three-run homer off reliever Beyeler, but the Cardinals promptly responded with four runs of their own in the next inning.

Huber led off with a solo homer off reliever Harry Bregy, and back-to-back doubles by John Baum and Perigos, plus a throwing error by catcher Tobias Siegrist extended the Cardinals’ lead to 15-4.

With Baum on the mound for the final three innings, the Challengers were left helpless and didn’t manage to put a runner past first base for the rest of the game.

The Challengers finished a season that saw many ups, but more downs. The loss of Anubis Benitez, Joe Cox and Saentis Zeller due to injuries and other stuff was too much to overcome.

On a positive note, Burger’s breakout as a quality starter, the improved team batting and a deep bullpen leave some hope for the team’s future. A third year for Bennett in a Challengers uniform is also almost certain, giving the franchise some continuity and stability.

Game notes
Burger’s six complete games pitched is the fourth-highest mark in team history. …The Challengers’ pitching staff gave up an alltime-low 125 runs, and conceded only 165 hits in 155 1/3 innings, the lowest total since allowing 132 in 1990. …The 82 strikeouts against Challenger batters is the third lowest mark in team history. Only in 1995 and 1985 were there less strikeouts, but in far less at-bats (647 in 2006 compared to 591 in 1995 and 394 in 1985). ...Benitez, who was sidelined for the final 10 games of the season because of a fractured right ankle, is the only Challenger with 600 and more at bats without a triple. He is tripleless in 852 career at bats with the Challengers. ...Thomas Blank set new season-highs with nine RBI's and four stolen bases. ...Bregy significantly improved his offensive stats from 2005 to 2006: He lifted his batting average from .145 to .333, he more than doubled his output in runs (15) and hits (17), had almost three times more total bases than last year (23), and also hit six doubles, his highest total since hitting 10 in 2003. He's also been hit eight times by a pitch, missing Benitez' single-season record of nine by just one. ...Landis finished the season with more strikeouts than walks for the first time since 2000, when he posted identical numbers with six walks and eight punchouts. His batting average of .333 was his worst since finishing with .303 in 1993. He nevertheless stands firm at third place on the alltime list with a career .435 average. ...After stealing zero bases in 2005, Chris Palatinus stole eight this year, his highest total since 2000 when he stole ten bags. ...Siegrist went 8-for-20 in the last six games of the season, finishing with a team-leading .367 batting average. After finishing runner-up in '04 and '05, he finally won the batting crown this year. ...Zeller finished the season with one homer, keeping his streak of nine consecutive seasons with a homer alive (second only to Landis' streak of 12 seasons from 1993 through 2004). The same can be said of Benitez who also stands at nine consecutive seasons. ...Zöllig set a new career-high with 12 steals in 15 attempts. His batting average of .327 is almost 40 points above his career average and is the best since batting .333 in 2002. He also had more walks than strikeouts (10-8) for the first time since 2002.