Bologna in round 2, while Rimini, Parma and San Marino take 2 steps forward
With only six games left in the first round of this IBL, the only club thus far to have secured a spot in round 2 is UnipolSai Bologna, which official means that San Marino, Padova and Godo will all fight it out for one spot out of Division A. Currently T&A San Marino holds a 2 game lead over Padova and 3 on Godo. In Division B both Rimini and Parma were able to capitalize on the two losses suffered by Nettuno at the hands of T&A by completing sweeps of their own. Rimini was able to take two close games from Godo, while Parma was able to take two games from Padova with a little strategy.
Things didn’t go as planed this past Saturday in San Marino for the visiting Nettuno club, as they fell to T&A for the second consecutive evening with their foreigners on the mound. The loss puts Nettuno two steps back in the standings behind both the Rimini Pirates and Lino’s Coffee Parma as both those teams were able to complete two game sweeps on their home turf. With the win being picked up by San Marino on Saturday night, the team that was once two games back of the second spot in Division A, now finds themselves two up on Padova and three up on the Godo Knights after they were able to pick up their 5th straight victory. The turnaround for the three time defending champs over the last couple of weeks has been a consistent foreigner mound, the number two offense in the league, timely defense, along with a solid Valerio Simone and D’Amico in the Italian game over their last couple of outings. If T&A San Marino is able to come away with a series sweep of Padova this Friday and Saturday they can pretty much punch their ticket to the second round of this year’s league with only four remaining games after next weekend’s play. In Division B both Rimini and Parma were able to move two games ahead of Nettuno after they were able to sweep their respective two game series. Over this past weekend the Rimini Pirates were able to take two games from the Godo Knights in Rimini, but it wasn’t as easy as a task as it was suppose to be. Rimini was able to walk away with the series sweep thanks to two come from behind victories. Of the two, Friday evening turned out to be the biggest of the scares as Rimini fell behind 6 to 0 before they could even blink. It took them half the game plus a huge delay in the 5th to eventually turn the tables on the Knights, taking the game by the final of 10 to 9. Over the next couple of weeks, Rimini is going to have to find a solution to their Italian mound, as it is turning out to be their real Achilles heel.. a huge concern heading into the final 6 games of the 1st round of the 2014 Italian Baseball League. Finally, Parma put on quite a show when they were able to pick up two huge victories against Padova on Friday and Saturday in Parma. In game one it was the spectacular performance of Sanchez on the bump that turned out to be the difference as he outlasted Uviedo. In game two of the two game set on Saturday evening in Parma, the surprise turned out to be the performance Giovanelli as he was able completely shut out Padova for 6 solid innings of work, as he allowed only three hits. Next up for Parma is Nettuno2, a series that they will without a doubt be favored in, and on their home turf. A two game sweep would set them up really nice heading into the last four games of play.
At the moment Rimini and San Marino have one less game in the standings due to a protest in place, which puts into question the game that was played on the 13th of this month. It was a game that was taken by San Marino by the final of 15 to 5. Even though the game is not yet official, all signs point to the win staying in the hands of San Marino.
