Challengers lose 4-hour marathon 17-15

The Challengers' NLB-team and the Therwil Flyers battled over four hours for the victory in Sunday's doubleheader in Therwil.

The Flyers came out as winners, but not before having wasted seven pitchers and letting the Challengers tie it up in the top of the eighth inning.

The Challengers led after 4 1/2 innings 13-7 thanks to 3 hits by Urs Blickenstorfer that led to five runs. He led all Challengers with three hits and seven RBI's in his first game this season with the NLB-team.

Starter Harry Bregy kept the Flyers in check over the first four innings, giving up only seven runs while his offense backed him with 13 runs.

But the Flyers knotted the game at 13-13 in the bottom of the fifth thanks to four hits and three errors by the Challenger defense.

Patrick Bosshard relieved Bregy starting the sixth inning, and he quickly surrendered the lead by giving up an RBI-single in the sixth.

The Flyers extended their lead by adding one more run in the seventh.

But the Challengers managed to tie up the game at 15 all in the top of the eighth on a run-scoring fielder's choice by Blickenstorfer and Bosshard's RBI-double, his first of the season.

But Bosshard wasn't able to shut down the Flyers and allowed two more runners to score on an RBI-double by Fiedler and an RBI-single by Hügli for the final score of 17-15.

Game notes: The Flyers had seven pitching changes with four pitchers. They combined for 20 walks. ...Four Flyers had four hits, and the team combined for 17 hits. ...Stefan Eisenring received six free passes, setting a new record for the Challengers' NLB-team. ...Bregy doubled his season total for stolen bases, getting five steals off three different pitchers.