Eagles' extra-inning win overshadowed by vicious outfield collision

The Challengers’ 11-9 loss in 12 innings against the Lucerne Eagles was overshadowed by a freak accident in the outfield, sending second baseman Eidrys Reyes to the hospital with what looked to be a mild concussion.

Racing back to catch Patrick Maier’s soft pop up in the ninth inning, he ran headfirst into right fielder Carlos Nepomuceno who was fixated on the ball and didn’t see Reyes coming in hard. Both players went down, but Nepomuceno quickly recovered unscathed after regaining his breath.

But Reyes remained on the ground and appeared to have lost consciousness for a couple of seconds. He got back on his feet and signaled that he was fine. Two minutes after he retook his position in the infield, he suddenly collapsed and now it was obvious that he couldn’t carry on.

After a delay of half an hour, game resumed, but neither team was in the mood to care about winning the game, more so the Challengers than their counterparts.

The game itself looked to be a one-sided affair as the Challengers erased an early 1-0 deficit in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to Bryan Shemley and an error by shortstop Samy Paulino two batters later, giving the Challengers a 2-1 lead.

An RBI-single by Tobias Siegrist in the fifth and a successful squeeze bunt by Thomas Blank in the sixth extended the Challengers’ lead to 4-1.

The Eagles got two runs back in the top of the seventh on Paulino’s RBI-single, and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to Raphi Strub by reliever Thomas Burger. But Burger got out of the inning by a well-turned 6-4 double play.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Challengers scored three more times on three singles and two walks issued by reliever Mario Idelfonso.

The Challengers also won the eighth inning by profiting from two more walks, establishing a safe 9-4 lead entering the ninth inning.

After Burger retired the first batter of the inning, the Challengers’ win expectancy rose to 99.9% according to EasyScore.

But a throwing error by shortstop Robert Sedin and another base-on-balls extended the inning. That prompted coach Chris Palatinus to summon closer Harry Bregy to shut the door. He promptly struck out Marco Limacher, and the Challengers were one out away.

But Jerôme Müller followed with a bloop single, and Edwin Hernandez reached thanks to a fielding error by third baseman Blank.

Maier followed with that disastrous pop fly to right, bringing his team within one run.

Palatinus brought in Ryan Byrne to close things out, but Paulino, Byrne’s former teammate with the Bern Cardinals, doubled in the tying run. Byrne ended it by retiring Michael Settle on a line drive out to right, but the Eagles were back in it.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Challengers managed to put a runner at second base, but not before two outs were made and they couldn’t cash in.

In the next two innings, the Eagles could only get a double off Byrne, and the Challengers, on the other hand, loaded the bases with one out in the eleventh. But Blank hit a hard grounder to third baseman Rodolfo Vargas who initiated a successful 5-2-3 double play to deny the Challengers.

With this momentum, the Eagles strung together four singles off Byrne in the top of the 12th to score two runs which remained unanswered by the Challengers, sending them to their third consecutive loss of the season.

Game notes
The only other game in Challengers history that lasted 12 innings came on June 23, also against the Eagles. The 61 batters faced were the second-most, only behind the 64 batters faced in a 23-15 loss against the Bern Cardinals on September 7, 2003.