Italy comes up just short in the 9th on a play at the plate

Team Italy comes up just short to the Oakland A’s in the second to last warm up game before the World Baseball Classic. The A’s pitchers held the Italian hitters to 3 runs on 4 hits, two of which were solo shots off the bats of Rizzo and Colabello. The Italian team had their chance to tie up the game in the 9th with Colabello on third but he was thrown out at the plate for the last out when he tried to score on a pass ball.

Next on tap for Italy are the Los Angeles Angels as the Italians conclude their preparation for this years WBC. Game one of the Classic will take place on Thursday the 7th where they will go head to head with Mexico at Salt River Field in Phoenix, AZ.

Game one of the tournament between Italy an Mexico can been seen on ESPN America at 21.00 (Italian Time) on March the 7th. The squad’s sprits are high heading in to this third addition of the tournament. Even with the tough road in front of them (Mexico, Canada the USA), they feel like they have a real shot to be competitive and advance in the event. “If we can continue to grow as a team we have a real possibility of going deep into this WBC.” Anthony Rizzo