Challengers outslug Unicorns, nevertheless lose 18-17 in final inning

The Challengers scored 17 runs on 15 hits, including three doubles, a triple and four homers - usually enough to win a baseball game. But the Hünenberg Unicorns prevailed and won Game 2 18-17 in the final inning on Sunday.

	Patrick Bosshard

The lead changed five times during the game, being quite the opposite to Game 1 where the Unicorns pulled away from the first inning on.

This time, the Unicorns again took the lead in the first inning, but the Challengers came storming back in the bottom half of the inning on Bryan Shemley's two-run homer, his first of the season, and Patrick Bosshard's solo shot with two outs, also his first this year.

But the Unicorns again had a big second inning, hitting a solo and two two-run homers, an RBI-double and an RBI-single off starter Willy Schaub for an 11-3 lead.

They extended that lead by scoring four more in the top of the third frame on a two-run single by Lukas Steiner and a steal home by Christian Von Ah.

The Challengers had an answer ready as they won the inning by scoring five times on four defensive blunders by the Unicorns, an RBI-single by Schaub, and Bosshard's RBI-triple.

It was the first triple by a Challenger since Patrick Zöllig did it in Game 2 on September 27, 1998 against the Romanshorn Submarines.

Shemley relieved Schaub on the mound in the third inning, and managed to shut 'em down in the fourth inning.

Trailing 13-9 entering the bottom half of the fourth inning, the Challengers' offense finally kick-started and jumped on starter Andreas Balmer.

Adrian Kämpfer">Adrian Kämpfer and Werner Stoller hit RBI-singles, Bosshard had an RBI-double, and Shemley capped the inning with his second homer of the game, a three-run shot to put his team up 16-13 after four innings.

The Unicorns got two runs back in the next inning, and retook the lead in the top of the sixth inning by scoring two more runs for a 17-16 lead.

The Challengers only managed to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning on an error by second baseman Meinrad Andermatt that scored Beni Blank from second base.

And the Unicorns scored the final run in the top of the seventh and final inning on Dino Pelli's RBI-double, on which the Challengers had no more answer.

They managed to put Stoller on third and Beni Blank on second base, but Schaub hit a comebacker to the mound for the final out.

Shemley's line of 5-3-3-5, including a double and two homers, was matched only by Bosshards 3-for-4 performance. And he missed hitting for the cycle just by a whisper. He homered, tripled and doubled in his first three at-bats. Needing only a single, he flied out to center and drew a walk in his final two plate appearances.

The 18-17 loss was the first time in the last five seasons
that a Challenger team lost despite scoring that many runs. On May 14, 2000, the Challengers' NLB-team lost 17-15 to the Therwil Flyers in a similar game.