Embrach Mustangs Sweep Lucerne Eagles – Savoldelli strikes out 600th batter of his career.
by Embrach Mustangs
The Mustangs improve their record to 4-0 on the season with a sweep of the Lucerne Eagles in Embrach. Roger Savoldelli pitched a complete game shutout to earn the victory. During the game Savoldelli recorded career strikeout number 600. The Mustangs used clutch hitting and great defense to take game one 10-0. The game would have been a lot closer if it were not for some defensive web gems by Harry Wischnewski, Bruno Albrecht and Tommy Fasching. They probably saved 2-3 runs by making great plays. The Mustang hitting was also clutch as newcomer Christian Klarer had three hits and 5 rbi’s on the day and Josh Crouse hit a monster home run to deep left field to cement the victory for the Mustangs.
In the second game, the Mustangs sent out Tim Jones fresh off an 11 strike out effort to close out the nightcap. Jones did not disappoint as he went the full nine innings and struck out 18 batters in winning his second game of the year 7-3.
The Mustangs scored first in bottom of the 1st inning due to the speedy Harry Wischnewski who stole second and third base and scored on a sac fly by Josh Crouse. The Eagles fought back and tied the game at 1 in the top of the 2nd inning on clutch hitting by Junior Rosario. The Mustangs took the lead in the bottom of the 2rd inning when Korey Kovac walked and Carl Hutchinson singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Harry Wischnewski laid down a terrific sac bunt to advance both runners into scoring position. The next batter Josh Crouse then singled to score two runs.
The Eagles battled back in the top of the 6th inning when Alexander Tifa Cruz connected with a fastball and deposited the ball over the right center fence for his first home run of the season. That made the score 4-3 making this game a battle.
The game was broken open in the bottom of the seventh when Ollie Walser walked and Kovac reached on an error to place runners on 1st and 2nd base. Chris Byrnes came on to pinch hit and he did not disappoint the home crowd as he came through with a line drive to left center to score Walser and give Jones some breathing room going into the eighth inning.
Jones polished off the Eagles in the eight by striking out the side. The Mustangs went to work again in the bottom of the eighth adding two more runs on key hits by Bruno Albrecht and Tommy Fasching to make the score 7-3.
In the top of the ninth the Eagles threaten by loading the bases but Jones got the better of Tifa Cruz this time and struck out the Eagle slugger to finish off the game.
Flyers win season opener 6-3 and 5-3 against Zurich Challengers
by Zurich Challengers
Game 1
The Challengers suffered another close defeat this season as they went down 6-3 against the Therwil Flyers. Stefan Koller pitched a complete-game five-hitter, allowing only three runs – two of them unearned. Adrian Kaufmann and Michel LaTorre both had two hits, while the Challengers again failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position, going 2-for-13.
Andrea Girasole had a shaky start, walking three batters in the first inning, of which all three eventually scored. The Challengers got one run back in the top of the second inning as newly acquired Robert Sedin led off with a bunt single, stole second base and scored on Kurt Kovac‘s RBI-single. The two teams exchanged zeros on the board over the next four innings, before the Flyers struck again in the bottom of the seventh.
Two doubles, two walks and an error pushed across three more runs for a 6-1 Flyers lead, making the day for Girasole. The Challenges managed to make it interesting in the top of the ninth after Thomas Blank led off with a double, and later scored on two errors by the Flyers defense. Kovac also scored on yet another error, before Saentis Zeller flied out to right for the final out.
Game 2
The Challengers dropped their fourth game in a row this season after suffering another tough 2-run loss to the Therwil Flyers. Takanobu Oshima and two relievers allowed just one earned run all game, with Adrian Kaufmann picking up the save.
For the Challengers, Fabio Aimi (0-2) started and lasted only three innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and one base-on-balls, while also striking out four. He strained his quadriceps warming up before the game, but nevertheless tried to pitch through the pain. Robert Sedin relieved him in the fourth inning in his pitching debut for the Challengers, and pitched the next four innings, allowing just one more run on back-to-back doubles by Reto Siegel and Chris Blackbee in the seventh inning.
On the other hand, Sedin didn’t fare well at the plate as he lined out to center three times, and also left two men in scoring position in the sixth inning. The Challengers struck first on a couple of passed balls by Emanuel Raouzeos, but then struck out twice in a row with a runner in scoring position. After that, the Flyers took command and scored two runs each in the second and fourth innings to take a 4-1 lead after five innings.
In the top of the sixth, Oshima walked Stephan Pribitzer to open the inning, which made his day. Blackbee relieved and allowed the inherited runner to score on a single by Saentis Zeller. Zeller later also came around on Tobias Siegrist’s run-scoring ground out which cut the deficit to one run. But Blackbee retired Sedin and Kurt Kovac to end the threat.
Again, the Challengers had just one single hit with men in scoring position, a big problem that showed up in the four losses this season. Zeller’s 3-for-4 was the only highlight for a measly Challengers’ offense that had just seven hits, and is now batting a ridiculous .147 in the first four games of the season.
The Challengers were also missing three players as Gabe Staub, Matt Tsukroff and Freddy Bättig were no-shows for the doubleheader. Things will have to change offensively if the Challengers were have to have a chance for a playoff spot this season. Six of seven starters are batting .200 or below, and the seven hits this game is the highest total in a game this season.