Sacramento shuts out Flyers, forces Game 5

Lowuin Sacramento delivered another masterpiece for the Challengers, striking out 14 in a 3-0 win over the Therwil Flyers in Game 4 of this year's Semifinal Series.

This sets up a winner-takes-it-all Game 5 in Therwil on Sunday, with the winner advancing to the Finals to face the Zürich Barracudas who alreday swept the Lucerne Eagles 3-0 last weekend.

One run off Flyers starter Gavin Guarrera was all the Challengers needed on Sacramento's big night, and they did so by getting one in the sixth inning on an infield single by Ryan Byrne.

Saentis Zeller hit a double to opposite left field with one out, and James Sanders sacrificed him to third. Byrne hit a weak grounder to second baseman David Castillo who couldn't handle the ball cleanly, enabling Byrne to reach safely and putting his team ahead 1-0.

Up until that point, Sacramento and Guarrera went head-to-head in a classy pitching duel.

Sacramento faced 20 batters in those first five innings, and let five runners get into scoring position. But the Flyers went hitless in those situations and Sacramento escaped unscathed.

Guarrera, on the other hand, faced only one crucial situation as the Challengers had runners at first and third in the fourth inning. But he got Amado Tomas Tabilis in a rundown between first and second, during which Tobias Siegrist tried to score but was eventually thrown out 3-2-5-4.

Given a 1-0 lead, Sacramento just got better and allowed only one more baserunner in the last three innings as Adrian Kaufmann reached on a bunt single in the eighth. But he got erased quickly as Takanobu Oshima grounded into a 6-3 double play, only his second GIDP all season.

In the bottom of the eighth, Harry Bregy reached on a single, and with two outs, Sanders reached safely on Castillo's throwing error, putting runners at third and second.

That set up the table for Byrne's masterful 10-pitch at-bat. With an 0-2 count, he kept fouling off pitch after pitch. Guarrera couldn't throw anything by him, and on the 10th pitch, Byrne laced a clean single through the right side, sending both runners home for a 3-0 lead.

Sacramento struck out the side in the ninth to seal the victory with a total of 14 strikeouts.

Game notes
Sacramento's Game Score of 95 ranks third on the Challengers' all-time list.