Unipol Bologna punches postseason ticket

Unipol Bologna became the second team to punch a ticket to the 2013 postseason with a win on the road against T&A San Marino last night by the final of The win that was picked up by Rivero, puts Bologna’s lead for that second place spot back at 2 games over San Marino and guarantees that by weekend’s end Nanni’s club will occupy at least the two spot in the Italian Baseball League rankings. The series will shift now to Bologna on Friday evening, and will feature Da Silva for T&A and Richetti for Unipol. If Bologna is able to walk away with the sweep this weekend San Marino will have put themselves back in the danger zone in terms of the playoffs. They are currently 1.5 games up on Nettuno who will be hosting Rimini for two beginning tonight, and 2.5 up on a Parma club that is charging hard. Next week T&A will have to face off against Rimini for two very meaningful games on both sides, as San Marino will most likely be fighting for a payoff birth while for Rimini it will be home field advantage that will be on the line.

Bologna’s win on Thursday night over San Marino puts the pressure back on Rimini as they head down to ‘the always hostile’ Nettuno for two, which begins tonight under the lights. With four games to go in the regular season, picking up a win on each side of the diamond has never been as important. Rimini may have already obtained a spot in the postseason, but they are shooting for more, home field advantage.. On the other side of the ball, Nettuno is fighting to fend off Parma, a team that is only one game back in the standings, and has the advantage in terms of tiebreak rules thanks to two series sweeps earlier this series. The first pitch in game one will be thrown at 21:00 local time, and will feature for Pizziconi for Nettuno and Corradini for Rimini. On Saturday afternoon these two clubs will conclude their second to last regular season series with a start time of 16:00 local time. Expected to take the bump for in that one will be Bazardo or Marquez for Rimini and DeSantis for Nettuno.

Tonight and tomorrow up north in Piamonte, Novara will be welcoming in Parma for two, two matchups that are of the upmost importance for teams up and down the Italian Baseball League. Parma is heading into the weekend just one game back of a postseason spot, currently on the heals of Nettuno.. the very team that is facing off against the first place Rimini club tonight and tomorrow afternoon. This series is not expected to be an easy stroll for Munoz’s club, especially when the Venezuelan Southpaw, Calero, takes mounds for Novara. To top off a strong arm on Novara’s side, Parma is also going to have to do without the full services of their leading bat, Marval, who is still recuperating from an abdominal injury, and their team captain, DeSimone, for one game thanks to mandatory suspension for getting tossed in a match a week ago against Grosseto. Regardless, Munoz hopes to rally his troops once again as he will be sending Sanchez and Rivera to the hill this weekend to counter against the likes of Calero, Torres, and company. Game one will kick off tonight at 20:30 and game two tomorrow at 15:30.

It’s gonna be a long day in Reggio Emilia on Saturday with three games on the schedule that will feature the home team, Reggio, and a visiting Grosseto club. Game one will get started at 11:00 am and has Grosseto taking the field on defense first as the home team. Game one is a makeup of the game that was rained out in Grosseto back on the 25th of May. For games two (16:00) and three (20:30), the home team will be Reggio, as they will look to climb back to .500 with a three game sweep, a task that is easier said then done. Even though Grosseto has had a rough go at it thus far this season, not having won a game since the 20th of April, they looked pretty good in their two games at home last weekend against a tough Parma team that was suppose to have no problem them (game 1 6-3 loss, game 2 2-1 loss). Reggio is expected to return to almost full strength over the weekend, but will still be without their lefty starter, Bastardo, who had to return to Venezuala a few weeks back for personal family issues. Look for Bertolini, Crepaldi, and the 1.67 ERA of Acosta to eat up a number of the expected 27 innings to be played on Saturday. On the other side of the field, it’s going to be Marquez, Ularetti and company that will look to snap their 25 game loosing streak.

Rounding off the games this week in the IBL is the series up in Ronchi dei Legonari between the New Black Panthers and the Godo Knights. The last time that these two teams met back on the 26th of May they ended up splitting in two very lopsided games. Game one was won 13-2 by the New Black Panthers, while in game two Godo came out on top 14-4. Taking the ball on Godo’s side will be Galeotti for their Italian Game, while in the foreign game look for Ribeiro take the mound in hopes of bettering his overall record to 4 and 1. For Ronchi in the Italian game it’s going to be Alessandro Petralia on the hill, while the dual of Yepez and Litzinger will be given the duties of the foreign matchup in hopes of ending the 2013 campaign on a positive note.