Eagles win season finale 5-4

The Luzern Eagles upended the Challengers in Sunday's regular season finale 5-4, giving them their best finish since reaching the Semifinals in 2007, while the Challengers finished in seventh place, their worst rank since 1995.

Fabio Aimi started and lasted four innings, giving up three runs on four hits and three errors in the bottom of the fourth.

Up to that point, the Challengers held a 2-0 lead thanks to Thomas Blank's RBI-double in the second and Chris Palatinus' solo homer to lead off the third inning.

Bryan Shemley relieved Aimi in his first pitching appearance since 2007, and quickly gave up a run on a sacrifice fly by catcher Marco Limacher.

The Challengers tied the score at four apiece in the top of the sixth on Palatinus' RBI-single in his final at-bat of his career, and an ensuing throwing error by left fielder Marc Hurschler.

Patrick Maier was called upon to pitch the bottom half of the sixth inning, and he gave up an RBI-single to Reyes that was the deciding run for the Eagles.

Game and season notes

The Challengers have lost their season series against the Eagles for the first time in the last five seasons. The Challengers' .268 season batting average is the third lowest in club history, and the .354 on-base percentage is the worst ever. The 40 doubles are the lowest total since hitting 29 in 1991. The 18 losses set a new franchise record and the team ERA of 7.08 is the worst since 2003's 9.63. ...Tobias Siegrist suffered his worst season of his NLA career, hitting just .266 - well below his career average of .374 -, and posting a 6.41 ERA. He nevertheless led the team in doubles (6), walks (17), wins (5), strikeouts (70), innings pitched (85 2-3), games started (10) and complete games (2). ...Blank finished the season by not scoring in his last 18 games, going all the way back to May 7 when he scored the winning run against the Zurich Lions in a 2-1 win. He nevertheless finished the season as the team leader in batting average (.325), RBIs (16) and hits (27). ...Thomas Burger pitched a career-low 18 2-3 innings and started just one game. His 9.64 strikeouts per nine innings pitched is his highest since his rookie season of 2005. ...Maier gave up a team-high three homers in 20 innings pitched. ...Zeller set career-lows in hits (13), RBIs (6), total bases (21), batting average (.245), on-base percentage (.349) and slugging percentage (.396), but extended his consecutive seasons with at least one homer to 12. ...Carlos Peña set new career highs in batting average (.333), on-base percentage (.425) and slugging percentage (.464), and also led the team with two homers. ...Jesus Martinez led the team with 19 runs scored and a .442 slugging percentage, but had a career-low six doubles, 34 total bases and 14 RBIs on the season. ...Palatinus grounded out to first in the first inning in his 1'400th at-bat in the NLA. He finished the season as the leader in on-base percentage (.432), ERA (4.89), WHIP (1.37) and saves (2). He also ranks in the top 3 in batting average, homers, RBIs, doubles, walks, total bases, innings pitched and games started. He retires as career leader in walks with 241 and sacrifices with 45.