The last week in the IBL before the halfway point gets started tonight in San Marino and Godo
It all gets started tonight, Thursday April 30th in San Marino and Godo as the four of the Italian Baseball League teams (San Marino v. Rimini, Godo v. Bologna) are set to take the field for this last weekend before the most of the teams will put things on hold for the European Cup Tournament.
The derby “romagnolo” gets started once again for the first time since the 2012 IBL finals when Catanoso’s Pirates fell to T&A San Marino in 6 games. Tonight the ‘odds’ are slightly in favor of T&A but with ex big leaguer, Bazardo, on the bump for Rimini and the offense that will be penciled in behind the right hander it should be a hard fought battle through and through. San Marino will most likely be sending Da Silva and his 0.82 ERA (second in the league only to D’Angelo 0.66 ERA) to match up against Bazardo. Some good news for Bindi which is that he will for the first time in a couple of weeks be able to count on the services of his left handed outfielder and bat, Avagnina.
Unipol Bologna will be heading into Godo on Thursday without Bassani and D’Amico. In the first game of
the two game series Nanni plans on starting Luque with the full intension of utilizing his bullpen so not to overstretch any of his arms, keeping everyone fresh next weeks European Cup games. As for the lineup, it’s still up in the air. Nanni will have to make a couple of decisions in regards to whether Sabbatani or Bischeri will be behind the plate and if it will be Nosti or Ermini will be in left field. As for Fuzzi and the Knights, they will be without Restrosi and will only be able to count on Monari in a pinch hitting role. In game one of the series it will be Alessandro Casalini getting the ball with the difficult task of shutting down the first place Unipol.
Both series will resume on Friday the 31st. The series between San Marino and Rimini will move down the road to the Pirates stadium with a game time of 20.30 where Magrane (San Marino) should be matching up with Corradini (Rimini), and the second game between the Knights and Unipol will head to Bologna (20.30 game time) in a game that will feature D’Angelo (Bologna) and Ribeiro / Galeotti (Godo).
