Challengers rally from nine runs down in final two innings

The Sissach Frogs had the chance to finish off the Zurich Challengers in seven innings in Game 1 of Sunday’s doubleheader, but had to pay bitterly for not doing so.

Leading 9-0 in the bottom of the seventh with a man at third, the Frogs failed to bring the runner home, which would have ended the game due to the 10-run mercy rule.

Instead, the Challengers came storming back in the final two innings, scoring all of their 20 runs off four relievers to leave the Frogs in pure disbelief.

Daniel Traina of the Frogs pitched shutout ball through the first seven innings. He allowed only one runner to reach as far as third base and conceded only four hits and three walks.

His counterpart, Thomas Burger, getting a start for the first time since May 10, allowed five runs in the first inning, and two more in the second before being relieved by Tobias Siegrist.

Siegrist set down the Frogs‘ offense over the next 4 2-3 innings before Mike Klee’s two-run single in the seventh extended the Frogs‘ lead to 9-0.

After Bürgi’s single, Klee was standing on third base, and a passed ball or wild pitch would have ended the game. But Siegrist got pinch-hitter Peter Rüfenacht to pop out to first, keeping the game alive.

Player coach James Sanders led off the eighth with his second double of the game. He would go on to add two more doubles later in the game. After a walk to Siegrist, Thomas Landis and pinch-hitter Tom Huston followed with back-to-back doubles.

Two errors and a strikeout later, Frogs‘ coach Teddy Figueroa summoned Christian Klarer to the mound to end the bleeding, but he was greeted by Chris Palatinus with a ground-rule double over the rightfield fences, bringing the Challengers within 9-6.

Carlos Peña and Sanders followed with two more doubles, ending Klarer’s short stint without having retired a single batter.

Traina came back on, but this time, his lead had shrinked to 9-8. He managed to retire Siegrist for the second out, and it looked as if Landis would be the third one, but shortstop Klarer let Landis‘ grounder skip through his legs, enabling Sanders to score the tying run.

In the bottom half of the inning, Siegrist managed to quickly retire the first two batters, but Klarer hit a double to deep center field, and Markus Schaffner’s two-run homer gave the Frogs an 11-9 lead.

But that didn’t seem to bother the Challengers a bit, coming right back with an incredible 11-run inning. 16 batters strolled to the plate, seven of them got a hit, and the Frogs were forced to change pitchers two times.

Ueli von Burg pitched the final 1 1-3 innings to pick up his first win of the season, and Klarer was responsible for two blown saves.