Barracudas rough up Siegrist early, win 7-1

The Challengers, plagued by injuries and internal absences, couldn't find a recipe against starter Roger Savoldelli, losing 7-1 in Tuesday's night game at the Heerenschürli.

Savoldelli completed his 99th game of his career, and his offense backed him with 12 hits, three of them each by Nelson Santana and Bert Marsnik.

Savoldelli picked up his second win of the season, scattering 12 hits and three walks and allowing a single earned run.

His counterpart Tobias Siegrist got into trouble early on, not being able to retire any of the first four batters he faced.

Alexandro Münger walkd to lead off the game, Chris Michals followed with a little flair to center, and Santana plated both runners with a double to left center field.

Josh Crouse followed with a single, and Nderim Coma's sac fly scored Santana from third.

Strahil Georgiev's RBI-single extended the lead to 4-0, and after a hit-by-pitch, Siegrist finally struck out Rogers Hasson to end the flooding.

The Challengers loaded the bases with two outs on Francisco Colindres' RBI-single, followed by a single by Siegrist and a base-on-balls to James Sanders. But Kurt Kovac flied out to left to end the rally.

In the fourth, the Challengers loaded the bases again, but Carlos Nepomuceno was caught in a rundown for the third out after he tried to score on Saentis Zeller's single.

And they loaded the bases yet again in the fifth, this time with no outs. But Yusuke Azuma grounded into a 5-2 fielder's choice, Jesus Martinez fouled out to first, and Lowuin Sacramento grounded out to third to end the inning, leaving the Challengers with just one run on six hits, three walk and a hit-by-pitch to that point.

The Barracudas tacked on an unearned run in the bottom half of the inning on shortstop Zeller's throwing error. And Münger scored another run in the seventh after a dropped third strike on a wild pitch with two outs.

The Challengers used up all their offensive power and had just two more runners in scoring position in the final four innings.

Game notes
Colindres snapped his 0-for-15 skid at the plate with his RBI-single in the third inning. …Byrne's current season ERA of 1.39 would be a new franchise low, beating Sanders' mark of 1.41 set in 2010.