The Bern Cardinals moved within one victory of their third straight Swiss Baseball League finals with two victories over the Zurich Barracudas this past weekend. In other semi-final action, the Zurich Challengers and Reussbuhl Eagles are deadlocked at one game apiece after splitting a pair of games.
The Cardinals (20-2) touched Zurich starter Frank BECHTOLD early with four first-inning runs and took advantage of eight defensive miscues by the Barracudas (11-9) en route to an easy 12-3 win in Game 1.In the second game, Bern won Game Two by a 10-4 score..
The Challengers (13-7) grabbed an 8-5 victory over the Reussbuhl Eagles in Game 1 as Thomas BURGER picked up his sixth win of the year. Zurich banged 12 hits with Tobias SIEGRIST, Thomas BLANK, and Bryan SHEMLEY leading the charge with two hits each.
Reussbuhl (12-8) overcame two first-inning solo homers by Thomas LANDIS and Tobias SIEGRIST to rally for a 6-2 win over the Challengers to even the series at 1-1. Jerome MULLER tossed five solid innings to gain the win while Pete SOSKIN fanned seven in four shutout innings to earn the save.
Marcel ENZ connected for a third-inning grand slam off Zurich southpaw Harry BREGY who surrendered nine hits and six runs over eight innings. The Challengers Big Three (LANDIS, SIEGRIST, and Saentis ZELLER) was 4-for-13 with two runs and two RBI’s while the rest of the squad finished a combined 3-for 23.
