Challengers blow out Helvetics 20-6 in late innings

The Challengers again took a quick lead in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader, but this time they managed to protect their lead and went on to win 20-6 against the Uzwil Helvetics.

	Thomas Blank went 3-for-5 and collected a game-high four RBI's

With the win, the Challengers remained at .500 with five wins and five losses, giving them a good chance to qualify for the second phase of the Championship with just two games remaining against the Hünenberg Unicorns.

The Helvetics defense was erratic again as they muffed three balls in the first inning, enabling the Challengers to score five runs.

They added three more in the second inning. Thomas Blank highlighted the inning with the second double in his second at-bat of the game, a two-run shot that put his team up 8-1.

Starter Oliver Labhart cruised through the first two innings. But Hadler reached on an error by left fielder Orlando Balbuena to lead off the third inning, and Sopa plated him with a two-run homer. It was the seventh consecutive time Sopa reached base safely in the doubleheader.

	Probably the biggest and best coaching staff in the NLB: Chris Palatinus, Mike Lopez and Andy Fleischacker

That homer seemed to rattle Labhart and his defense, and after four of the next five batters reached base safely, Tobias Siegrist took over.

He allowed a single to Kreis that brought the Helvetics within 8-6, but that was all the Helvetics had left.

Siegrist (2-1) completely dominated his opponents after that, allowing just three baserunners in the final four innings. He allowed no runs, and struck out four and walked just one of the 17 batters he faced to pick up his second win of the season.

His offense put the game away in the fifth inning by scoring eight runs against an unmotivated Helvetic squad.

	Rookie Chris Hardy hit a game-high four hits and now owns a whopping .706 batting average.

Chris Hardy, Manuel Schretzmann and Oliver Labhart hit three consecutive doubles, Blank only got a single, but Adrian Kämpfer">Adrian Kämpfer continued the onslaught with his third two-base hit of the day.

Orlando Balbuena, Claudio Deck, Siegrist and Hardy added one single each as the Challengers sent 14 batters to the plate.

But the Challengers were not done yet.

They added four more runs in the sixth inning for the final score of 20-6 to prove that their offense has dramatically improved in comparison to last year.

Game notes
With his 15th double of his career, Kämpfer moved into fifth place on the Challengers' NLB career list. ...Thomas Blank moved into fifth place on the Challengers' NLB career list for hits with the 70th hit of his NLB career. ...Rookie Roger Burger got his first hit in the NLB, slapping a single over the infield in the sixth inning.