Cards take Series opener 11-5

The Swiss Champions Bern Cardinals beat the Zurich Challengers 11-5 in Game 1 of this year's Playoff Finals.

Although the Challengers outhit their opponents 11-8, they couldn't get a big hit until the seventh inning.

10 runners were left stranded, six of them in scoring position. Challenger batters were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Four errors - compared to three by the Cardinals - didn't help make life easier for pitchers Thomas Burger and Thomas Landis, either.

The Challengers scored two runs in the third inning on consecutive RBI-singles by Nick Lehmann and Thomas Landis, but both runs got erased in the bottom half of the inning on John Baum's two-run single.

In the fourth inning, Burger lost his control and was tagged for seven runs, capped by Jhonny Perigos' two-run homer for a 9-2 lead.

Two hit-by-pitches, two wild pitches and three walks speak a clear language.

Landis took over and managed to escape further damage by inducing Ron Zimmermann and Martin Gygax to hit into ground balls to third baseman Geovanni Ureña.

The Cardinals scored another run in the sixth inning on Zimmermann's RBI-double. A shot that sailed over the fence in left center field, but was misruled by the umpires as a ground-rule double, saving the Challengers a run.

They tried to close the gap in the next inning, and were successful in doing so.

With two outs, Landis singled, and Tobias Siegrist and Chris Palatinus followed with back-to-back homers off Severin Fries to cut the lead to 10-5.

An error by shortstop Samuel Paulino and a single by Bryan Shemley ended Fries' day, and Baum came on to close out the game.

He shut out the Challengers the rest of the way, allowing Palatinus as the only baserunner on first baseman Zimmermann's fielding error with two outs in the ninth.

Game notes
Bregy reached on Paulino's error in the seventh inning in his 600th at-bat in the NLA. ...Landis reached a huge milestone during the final inning: He struck out Paulino, completing 1'000 innings pitched in the NLA. In the third inning, he set another milestone by getting a single off Fries for his 600th hit in the NLA. ...Shemley singled in the sixth inning in what was his 400th at-bat in the NLA. ...Palatinus tied Armin Blickenstorfer">Armin Blickenstorfer and Roger Brunner for sixth place on the all-time list for homers with 32.