Friday evening in Bologna kicked off with the annual Italian car even, the Mille Miglia, a classic car event that tours across the old Roman road, Via Emilia. When it came time for the ball game to start between UnipolSai Bolonga and Nettuno2 the game turned out to be one that was completely controlled by the 1st place UnipolSai club as they took the game by the final score of 8 to 2. Bologna now improves their overall record in 2014 to an impressive 13 and 1 in this the first round of the IBL. Picking up the win for Bologna was Panerati, while De Santis also had a say in the games final outcome. Pizziconi suffered the loss for Nettuno2 as their struggles in this their inaugural season continued. Next up for Bologna will be Godo, while Nettuno2 will take on Lino’s Coffee Parma for the second time this year beginning on Friday in Parma.
The Rimini Pirates picked up their second win in as many days when they came from behind against the Godo Knights on their home turf. With the win, Rimini was able to walk away from the weekend with a shared spot at the top of Division B alongside Parma with an 8 and 6 record. Picking up the win for Rimini was the southpaw Marquez out of the pen, while on the other side of the ball it was the pen that suffered the loss when Ribeiro surrendered a total of 5 runs in the 7th. The final in this one was 7 to 3. In the box for the Pirates, it was the duo of Mazzanti and Spinelli that did most of the work on offence, with Mazzanti going 2-2 at the plate with a run scored and 2 RBI’s, while Spinelli went 3 for 4 with the stick and 2 RBI’s.
T&A San Marino picked up their second straight series sweep after taking two games from Nettuno on Friday and Saturday. With Valerio Simone on the hill and his 6 innings of solid work, San Marino was able to beat Nettuno’s foreign mound of Lorenzo and Rodriquez. The final in this was 4 to 2 with T&A’s 4 runs coming in the 3rd inning of the game after Nettuno had taken a one to nothing lead in the top half of the inning. Although San Marino did commit 3 errors in the game, their defense also shined bright on a couple of occasions including a spectacular grab in leftfield at the fence by Avagnina, and a throw home that gunned down Sforza by Macaluso. With the win San Marino moves 2 up on Padova for the second spot in Division A, while Nettuno falls two games off the pace in Division B.
Lino’s Coffee Parma was able to keep pace with Rimini in Division B after their sweep of Tommasin Padova on Saturday evening by the final of 3 to 0. Picking up the win for Parma was Nicolas Giovanelli with 6 innings of work on the bump, while it was Lorenzo Gradali that came on for the 1 inning save on the back end of the ball game. Parma picked up 1 in the 1st, 1 in the 3rd, and 1 more in the 7th to better their over all record to 8 and 6 on the season. In the box De Simoni, Marval, and Sambucci all picked up clutch hits for Lino’s Coffee. Next up for Parma will be Nettuo2, while Padova will have a chance to climb back in the race when they take on San Marino in a away-home two game series that begins on Friday in San Marino.
