Challengers get two from Indians, move into 1st place

RBI's from unexpected sources were the difference in this game in which the Challengers prevailed 8-6 against the Lausanne Indians.

Adrian Kämpfer">Adrian Kämpfer and Geovanni Ureña hit their first career homers, and the no. 6, 7 and 8 guys had all but one of the RBI's.

Although the Indians had built up a quick 6-0 lead against spot starter Roger Brunner, the Challengers managed to come back in big fashion and win the game.

Reliever Harry Bregy had his share of the glory as he pitched seven scoreless innings in relief to pick up his first win of the season.

The Challengers came back against pitcher Marte, who started to tire in the fourth inning. A hit-by-pitch, a throwing error, and a run-scoring fielder's choice already scored the first run of the game for the Challengers before Kämpfer connected for a two-run homer.

In the fifth inning, the Challengers erupted for five runs as Castillo hit an RBI-double, Marte balked in Tobias Siegrist, Thomas Blank hit an RBI-single, and Ureña capped the inning with a two-run homer.

After Ureña's shot, Kämpfer followed with a double, just the second of his career.

The score was 8-6, and the teams went on to exchange zeros on the board for the final 4 1/2 innings.

Jose Colon's throwing error on Bregy's grounder enabled the Challengers to get a runner on base, but that was also the last one they had. Marte went on to retire the next eight batters in order.

But his offense didn't do enough against Bregy to come back.

They managed to fill the bases with two outs in the eighth inning on two singles and a walk, but a 6-4 fielder's choice ended the threat.

Coupled with the Zurich Barracudas' two losses against the Bern Cardinals, the Challengers moved into a tie for first place in their group.

Game notes
It took Kämpfer 86 at-bats in the NLA to hit one out. In the NLB, he went homerless in his first 139 at-bats.