By Chris Byrnes
On a very hot and sunny Sunday afternoon the Sissach Frogs traveled to Zurich to take on the Barracudas in a key Swiss NLA match up with second place on the line. The Frogs came out strong and showed good energy under the fine pitching of Tobias Imboden to take the opening game by a score of 2-0. Chris Michaels led the Barracudas to a very close 4-3 win in the night cap to earn the split.
Game 1 Summary
It was the Frogs that scored first in the top of the 3rd inning taking advantage of a walk to Mario Cuevas and a wild pitch by Andi Rüesch to score on a ground ball to second base by Sorita Takeru.
The Barracudas tried to rally back in the 6th with the bases loaded and one out but Imboden was able to get Tyler Wagner to hit a hard ground ball to 1st base for an inning ending double play to crush the Barracudas chances of breaking the game open. This turned out to be the turning point in the game.
The Frogs put the insurance run on the board in the top of the 7th inning when Rüesch walked leadoff batter Alex Tifa Cruz followed by an error and a base hit by Stephan Wick to give Tobias Imboden some breathing room and go on to win his sixth game of the year. Andi Rüesch took the loss and dropped to 2-3 on the year.
Game 2 Summary
In game two, Chris Michals took the mound trying to get the Barracudas back on track but the Frogs came out on fire with a leadoff single by Sorita Takeru followed by a major league bomb by Taylor Eichhorst to make the score 2-0.
Taylor Eichhorst took the mound for the Frogs and shut the Barracudas down for the first two innings but the Barracudas bats exploded in the 3rd inning with five consecutive hits producing three runs. Josh Crouse and Tyler Wagner singled and Chris Michals drove them in while Nderim Coma singled in Michals to make it a 3-2 ball game. The Frogs put an unearned run across in the next inning to tie the game at 3.
The Barracudas put a run across in the 5th inning when Chris Michals and Jeroen Hermans singled and Hasson Rogers delivered the key single to score Michals to put the Barracudas in front 4-3. That was all Chris Michals needed as he kept the Frogs at bay to earn his sixth win on the season. Taylor Eichhorst took the lost and dropped to 1-1 on the season.
The Barracudas completed the regular season schedule and clinched second place for the playoffs. The Frogs will battle the Zurich Challengers for the 3rd spot next weekend as both teams are sitting with six losses on the year.