NLA Game 25, Sep. 15, 07
EAG
2| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eagles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
| Challengers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | x | 8 | 17 | 2 |
| W: Burger, Th. L: Müller | ||||||||||||
CHA
8Challengers take Game 5, move to Finals
The Challengers cruised to an easy 8-2 win in Game 5 of the Playoff Semifinals, earning them a spot in the Finals for the seventh time in the last 10 seasons.They will face the Bern Cardinals who swept the Zurich Barracudas in three straight to move into their third Finals in a row.
Thomas Burger pitched another gem, going eight innings and allowing only one run on seven hits, no walks, one hit-by-pitch, while also striking out eight.
The only run he allowed came on Whitney Pierce's solo homer leading off the fourth inning.
Thomas Landis and Tobias Siegrist collected all of the seven RBI's, going a combined 6-for-10.
Saentis Zeller and Harry Bregy added three hits each in a 17-hit attack against Jerome Müller, Dario D'Angelo and Pete Soskin.
Building up a 3-0 lead after just two frames, the Challengers were in the driver's seat for the entire game.
The Eagles got on the board on Pierce's homer in the fourth, but a strong performance by Burger and his defense did the rest.
Müller struggled to put the Challengers' batters away, allowing five singles to start the game, and then getting ripped in the fourth as Zeller, Landis and Siegrist hit back-to-back-to-back doubles to send the game out of reach.
D'Angelo took over, but he lasted only four batters in the fifth, getting tagged for three more runs.
Southpaw Soskin took over, and allowed only Landis' RBI-single after that to put out the fire.
The Challengers will now face the Cardinals in the Finals, trying to prevent them from becoming the first team to win three straight titles since the Challengers did it from 1998 through 2000.
In 2006, the Challengers lost in the Semifinals to the Bern Cardinals in three straight, and are 0-2 this season, not counting the Swiss Cup Finals, where they prevailed with a 6-2 win.
Game notes
The Challengers are 4-1 in Game 5's, losing only in 2003 against the Cardinals. ...Burger tied Enrico Zingg for 6th place on the alltime-list for wins with 14. ...Siegrist grounded out in his 100th at-bat of the season.