Challengers survive slugfest 18-12

The Challengers rallied twice and beat the Hünenberg Unicorns 18-12 in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at the Heerenschürli.

	Oliver Labhart pitched a complete-game for his second win of the season.

Two innings with seven runs apiece were enough to overcome a shaky Unicorn defensive display.

Starter Oliver Labhart surrendered three runs - two of them unearned - in the first inning.

But the Unicorns stranded two runners and the Challengers combined for four hits and six walks to score seven runs off starter Ineichen in the bottom half of the inning.

But the Unicorns came back, and thanks to Marc Riva's grand-slam homer in the next inning, they retook the lead at 9-7.

They pulled away on Scott Newman's RBI-single and a bases-loaded walk to Mosimann for an 11-7 lead after just 2 1-2 innings.

But then the Challengers used their bats and profited from four errors by the Unicorns in the bottom half of the third inning to send 11 batters to the plate who scored seven runs.

The Challengers held a 14-11 lead after just three innings, and then the two teams settled down.

Labhart was in control again, retiring seven consecutive batters in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

Schmid led off the sixth inning with a single off Labhart, and he later scored on Luthiger's sac fly to cut the Challengers' lead to 14-12.

But that sent a clear message to the Challengers.

They scraped together four runs on just two hits, but three more infield errors enabled the Challengers to put away the victory.

Labhart finished the game giving up 12 runs - three of them unearned - on nine hits and ten walks while also striking out six.

Game notes
Oliver Deck stole second base in the third inning for the 1'500th steal in the history of the Challengers' NLB-team. ...Adrian Kämpfer">Adrian Kämpfer collected three RBI's in a game for the third time this season, giving him a career-high 17 on the season.