The Bern Cardinals (18-2) have captured the Group 1 title in the Swiss Baseball League and will meet the Zurich Challengers (12-6) or Zurich Barracudas (10-6) in the first round of the playoffs early next month.
The Cardinals struggled last weekend against a short-handed Therwil squad registering narrow 4-3 and 5-3 victories. Coach John BAUM leads the league’s best rotation with a 5-1 mark and a sparkling 0.64 ERA with four complete games. Christoph BEYELER is 6-0 with a 2.26 ERA and Severin FRIES is 2-0 after a stint in the U.S. at NAIA Bellevue University.
Johnny PERIGO is enjoying an MVP-like season hitting .554 (31-for-56) with six homers, 11 doubles, and 31 RBI’s. Vitus HUBER has scored 28 runs and Randy ZIMMERMAN has 28 hits as the Cardinals eye a third straight Swiss championship.
The Challengers and Barracudas meet this weekend in a key Group 2 showdown. A split would give the Challengers a share of the division crown while a sweep would earn Coach Andy Fleishacker’s team a first round playoff matchup against the Reussbuhl Eagles.
The Challengers are led by veteran national team standouts Saentis ZELLER and Thomas LANDIS (.487, 19 hits). Southpaw Harry BREGY has emerged as the team ace going 3-0 with a 1.60 ERA and catcher Tobias SIEGRIST has scored 22 runs.
The Eagles will meet the Barracudas in a makeup game on August 25 which could have playoff implications if the Flyers sweep the Frogs this weekend and the Barracudas earn at least a split with the Challengers. However, in all proabability, Bern will meet the Barracudas in the first round while the Challengers will battle Reussbuhl.