by John Bullock Tucker
(1-2) Bern Cardinals – Therwil Flyers 9-10
With the series tied at 1 game apiece, game three was a pivotal game, putting one team within 1 victory away from being Swiss champions. In game three, the Flyers came out swinging, scoring two runs in the top of the first. This lead would only last for a short time, as the Cardinals scratched their way back and scored 1 in the 2nd inning and 4 in the 3rd. That was all for starting pitcher, Lukas Croton, who gave up 5 runs in 2 innings of work. Stefan Koller came in the game to pitch 2 1/3 innings of relief giving up 3 runs. Coming in after Koller was relief pitcher Hide Oshima who pitched the next 4 innings giving up only one run. Although Oshima only gave up 1 run in the final frames of the game, the Flyers were still trailing by 2 in the top of the 9th inning.
With their backs against the wall, the Flyers came out swinging. With 3 consecutive singles by Sebastian Zwyer, Adrian Kaufmann, and Reto Seigel the Flyers found themselves within striking distance. After Siegel put the Flyers within one run, JB Tucker plated the tying run with a sacrifice fly, and Stefan Koller put the Flyers in front with a single that the sliding second baseman could not handle. Adrian Kaufmann came in the game in the ninth inning to earn his first save of the playoffs. Final score was 10-9 in favor of the Flyers. Hitting standouts for the game were Adrian Kaufmann and Sebastian Zwyer, who were both 2-3 with 2 runs scored.
(2-2) Bern Cardinals – Therwil Flyers 7-6
Game four of the best of five series was a must win game for the Cardinals with the Flyers leading the series 2-1. With a win, the Flyers would become Swiss champions for the second year in a row. Starting pitcher for the Flyers, Chris Blackbee, had a very strong performance giving up 6 runs in 6 2/3 innings, most of which were unearned. The Cardinals starting pitcher John Baum also had a strong outing giving up 6 runs in 9 innings of work. To start the game the Flyers found themselves in an early hole, after giving up three runs in the first three innings.
Fortunately, the Flyers had a strong third inning and put up 3 runs of their own, coming mostly on a Daniel Eichenberger sharp line drive to center field that plated 2. The Cards regained the lead in the fourth inning after a leadoff double by Tobi Imboden, who later came in to score to put the Cards in front. In the top half of the fifth inning, the Flyers took their first lead of the game on a 2 run home run by Daniel Eichenberger. The lead did not last for long, in the bottom half of the 7th inning; the Cards were able to push two runs across to regain the lead, with a couple of timely hits and another Flyers error.
Down by one run in the eighth the Flyers rallied to tie the game with a RBI single from Stefan Koller. After shutting down the Cards in the bottom half of the eighth, the Flyers came up to bat again and loaded the bases with one out. With JB Tucker hitting, there was a soft ground ball to the short stop who was able to flip the ball to second for out number two, but the Cards second baseman was unable to turn a double play before the go ahead run scored. Taking the worst possible turn of events for the Flyers, the field umpire, controversially called interference on the Flyers’ base runner, which is an automatic double play and takes the Flyers go ahead run off the board.
After this dramatic chain of events, the Flyers were unable to hold off the Cards in the bottom half of the ninth inning, giving up the game winning run on an error and two singles by the Cards. Receiving the loss was Flyers’ reliever JB Tucker who gave up 1 run in 1 1/3 innings pitched. Final score was 7-6 in favor of the Cards. Hitting standouts for the Flyers were Stefan Koller and Daniel Eichenberger who had two hits apiece. The final game of the 5 game series will be played in Therwil Saturday at 14:00. The winner of this game will be crowned Swiss champions.
Results:
Saturday, October 2:
Therwil Flyers – Bern Cardinals 3-8
Sunday, October 3:
Therwil Flyers – Bern Cardinals 9-8
Recaps Games 1&2
Saturday, October 9:
Bern Cardinals – Therwil Flyers 9-10
Sunday, October 10:
Bern Cardinals – Therwil Flyers 7-6 (Series tied 2-2)
Schedule Swiss Finals:
Saturday, October 16:
14:00 Therwil Flyers – Bern Cardinals