Challengers rally for 9-5 win in derby

One down, three more to go. The Challengers won the first of four night contests this year against the Zurich Barracudas, rallying from a 5-1 deficit and winning it 9-5 in the eighth inning.

In their latest home opener ever, the Challengers also profited from four errors and got a strong performance from Andrea Girasole on the mound.

Saentis Zeller went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs and a triple to raise his team-leading batting average to .441, Tobias Siegrist went 2-for-3 and scored twice, and Thomas Blank delievered the game-winning RBI with a two-run double in the eighth.

Girasole (3-2) almost got his first complete game, but failed by walking two batters in the ninth. In the end, he pitched 8 2-3 innings in which he gave up five runs - three of them unearned - on eight hits and nine walks, while also striking out seven.

Thomas Burger got the final batter to ground into a game-ending 6-4 fielder's choice to pick up his first save of the season.

The two teams battled to a scoreless tie after three innings behind the strong performances of Girasole and the Barracudas' Frank Berchtold.

The Challengers scored first in the bottom of the fourth as second baseman Marc Schnider threw wide of third base, trying to nail down Kurt Kovac who advanced on Siegrist's double. Kovac earlied reached on an error by shortstop Ueli Von Burg, making the run unearned.

The Barracudas struck right back in the next inning, sending 10 batters to the plate for five runs. Four singles, two walks and an error gave the Barracudas a 5-1 lead.

But Zeller's two-out two-run triple in the bottom half of the inning, and Patrick Maier's run-scoring ground out and a wild pitch tied the score in the bottom of the sixth.

Both teams managed to put runners at third base in the seventh inning, but neither one of them scored.

Girasole retired the top of the lineup in order in the eighth inning, and the Barracudas summoned Andi Rüesch to the mound to start the bottom of the eighth.

Siegrist walked to lead off the inning, Robert Sedin followed with a double, and Blank plated both runners with a slash bunt double to the gap in left center field.

Maier and Shemley followed with a walk and an infield single to reload the bases.

Fabio Aimi followed with a high-bouncing single out of the infield that scored Blank, and Stephan Pribitzer followed with a sac fly to left to extend the Challengers' lead to 9-5.

Girasole came back out for the top of the ninth, trying to finish what he started. But he issued a walk to Nderim Coma, managed to strike out Marc Oboussier and retire Rüesch on a 6-4 fielder's choice, but Strahil Georgiev also drew a walk.

That prompted coach Chris Palatinus to make the call to the bullpen and bring in Burger to close out the game. He just did that, getting Manuel Hirtz to ground into the fourth 6-4 fielder's choice of the day.

Game notes
Burger last save came almost a year to the day as he got one on June 4, 2011 against the Sissach Frogs. ...Zeller tied Roger Brunner for eighth on the alltime list for RBIs with 187.