By Chris Byrnes
The Zurich Barracudas lived up to their namesake on Sunday as they were voracious, opportunistic predators who relied on surprising short bursts of speed to overtake their opponent. The Barracudas managed to sweep the Therwil Flyers winning the opener 5-3 and taking the night cap 6-1.
Game One – Barracudas 5-3
The Flyers sent their ace pitcher Lukas Croton to the mound. Croton was coming off a fantastic complete game shutout of the Bern Cardinals last week to face Andi Rüesch in the opening game. Rüesch was coming off a strong outing versus the Challengers.
The Barracudas jumped out quickly scoring three runs in the 1st inning to set the tone of the game. Leadoff batter Harry Wischnewski battled Croton and finally delivering a single on the 12th pitch of the at bat to ignite the Barracudas offense. Josh Crouse and Chris Michals followed with singles to load the bases with no outs. Croton got cleanup hitter Bert Marsnik to ground to second scoring Wischnewski from third base. Nderim Coma then followed with an RBI groundout to score Crouse to make it 2-0. Nelson Santana added a two out single to make the score 3-0 before Croton could escape the inning.
The Flyers battled back in the first inning scoring a run with two outs when Javier Rodriguez smoked a double and Stefan Koller singled making it a 3-1 ball game. Josh Crouse made a nice diving grab in left field to save another run from scoring.
In the second inning the Flyers added another run to make the score 3*-2 when leadoff batter Sebastian Zwyer singled to right field moved to second when Ianis Bouteloup was hit by pitch and scored on an RBI single by Hide Oshima.
The Barracudas put another run on the board in the fourth to make it a 4-2 ball game when Marcel Ochsner reached first base on an error and moved to second on a passed ball. Harry Wischnewski wielding a hot bat drove Ochsner home with a single.
In the bottom of the sixth inning Andi Rüesch got two quick outs but struggled with his command walking the next three batters to load the bases and placing the tying run on second base. Coach Byrnes came to the mound and gave the ball to his veteran Roger Savoldelli to get the Barracudas out of a jam. Savoldelli did not take long to get David Castillo to fly out to left field to end the threat.
Both teams exchanged runs in the 7th inning. The Barracudas Harry Wischnewski led off and was hit by the pitch, he proceeded to steal second base and move to third on a wild pitch. Wischnewski scored on a Bert Marsnik ground out. The Flyers pushed a run across when Emanuel Raouzeos led off with a single and stole second base and then scored on a single by Taka Oshima making the score 5-3.
The Flyers continued to put pressure on the Barracudas in the 8th and 9th innings but Savoldelli shut them down to earn his first save as a Barracuda and preserve the win for Andi Rüesch. The Flyers stranded 16 base runners in the game and had plenty of opportunities to score. The Barracudas neutralized those base runners with great defense.
For the Barracudas Chris Michals paced the offense going 4-4, Nelson Santana was 2-4 and Harry Wischnewski went 2-4 with two runs scored and sparked the offense. Josh Crouse led the defense with a nice diving catch to save a run and Marcel Oschner threw out a potential run at the plate.
The Flyers were led offensively by Javier Rodriguez who was 3-4,Taka Oshima went 4-6 and Emanuel Raouzeos who went 2-4. Ianis Bouteloup made an all-out diving catch in deep centerfield that was purely amazing.
Game Two – Barracudas 6-1
The Flyers sent Taka Oshima to the mound in game two. Oshima was coming off a strong seven inning win against the Bern Cardinals. The Barracudas gave the ball to Chris Michals who pitched brilliantly last week with a complete game win versus the challengers.
The Barracudas again pushed three quick runs across in the first inning against Oshima. Harry Wischnewski again leading off with a base hit to left and proceeded to steal second base. Josh Crouse walked to place runners on 1st and 2nd base. Chris Michals then hit into a force play moving Wischnewski to 3rd base with one out. Bert Marsnik walked to load the bases. Nderim Coma also worked out a walk to score the first run of the game and then Andi Rüesch hit a two run single to push the score to 3-0. The Flyers got out of the inning when David Castillo made a nice play on a hard hit ball by Strahil Georgiev.
The Barracudas added another run in the top of the 3rd inning when Bert Marsnik lead off with a walk and Nderim Coma ripped a single to place runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs. Nelson Santana walked to load the bases with no outs. Strahil Georgiev hit a sac fly to score Marsnik from 3rd base, credit Marsnik with a great slide to get around the tag.
In the 6th inning the Barracudas tacked on another insurance run when Andi Rüesch led off with a walk and Strahil Georgiev reached base on an error. Rüesch tagged up and moved to third base on Marc Schnider’s fly ball to right field and scored on a wild pitch to make it a 5-0 ball game.
The Barracudas pushed another run on the board in the ninth when Sasha Stanko hit an RBI single to score Bert Marsnik.
Barracudas pitcher Chris Michals was like an air traffic controller on Sunday as he grounded the very potent Flyers bats. He pitched a solid complete game win allowing only three hits and struck out eight in earning his second win on the season.
Offensively the Barracudas were paced by Bert Marsnik who went 2-3 and scored three runs and Nderim Coma who went 2-3. Andi Rüesch had a big two RBI single.
The two teams will square off again on May 3rd for a night game in Heerenschurli