Challengers rally for 4-2 win in season opener

The 2014 season opener for the Challengers and Zürich Barracudas lived up to the expectations and saw a worthy winner as the Challengers rallied for a 4-2 win.

Newly acquired Ryan Byrne pitched seven innings for the win and Tobias Siegrist recorded a save by pitching shutout ball for the final two innings.

Byrne was also the only Challenger with at least two hits in a six-hit team effort.

Byrne and the Barracudas' Andi Rüesch exchanged zeros on the board for the first six innings. The Challengers stranded nine runners in those innings - four of them at third base - while the Barracudas only left six on bases, of which only three reached as far as second base.

But after the Challengers stranded another runner at third in the seventh inning, the Cudas finally broke through in the bottom half of the inning.

They profited from a costly dropped third strike by catcher Bryan Shemley which enabled Strahil Georgiev to reach and eventually score on Harry Wischnewski's RBI-single with two outs for the first run of the game.

Chris Michals followed with an RBI-double to put the Barracudas ahead 2-0.

But in the top of the eighth, things got out of hand for the Barracudas. Newly acuired closer Roger Savoldelli walked two batters with one out, and catcher Bert Marsnik's wide throw off first base on Harry Bregy's sacrifice bunt enabled both runners to score. Eidrys Reyes followed with a line drive sac fly to right to give his team a 3-2 lead.

The home team couldn't answer and went down quietly against closer Siegrist in the bottom of the eighth.

The Challengers added an insurance run in the top of the ninth as Siegrist's double to left center scored Robert Sedin all the way from first base.

Trailing 4-2, the Barracudas had one last shot as they put runners at third and second with just one out. But Michals grounded out to pitcher Siegrist who checked the runner back to third before throwing out Michals at first.

Siegrist then earned his save by retiring Josh Crouse on an easy 4-3 grounder.

Game notes
The Challengers are 7-3 in their last 10 season openers. It was the second time in the new Heerenschürli ballpark that the Challengers and Barracudas faced off in a season opener. ...Rüesch struck out four times looking in four at-bats. ...The Challengers went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.