Opening Weekend 2014

A brand new season gets underway this Friday in the Italian Baseball League. It’s going to be another spring and summer on the diamond, however things have changed this year. From the league rules and structure, all the way down to the participating organizations. Two new clubs will be taking the field at Italy’s top level come Friday for the first time in their organizations history, Padova in Division A and Nettuno 2 in Division B. It should be an interesting year with plenty of excitement, especially seeing that only the top two clubs in each division will move onto the second phase of the league in the race for the title come the middle of June.

Getting started in Division A on Friday evening in Padova will be the newcomer to the league, Tommasin Padova, who will be taking on the three time defending champs T&A San Marino. Padova looks to be putting forth a very competitive squad this year. New to Padova in 2014 are shortstop Erick Epifano, foreign pitchers Nibaldo Acosta and Ronaldo Uviedo, Italian pitcher Michele Meschini, outfielder Nick Nosti, second baseman Marco Sandalo, and catcher Raffaele Medoro. Those being reconfirmed series A championship team are Laidel Chapelli, Sguassero, Sciacca, Massimiliano Sartori, Reinaldo Pestana, Pacini, De Lazzari, Maniero, Giovanni Faccini, Tonellato, Enrico Crepaldi and Jesus Medina. Taking the ball on the mound in games one and two will be Ronald Uviedo in the foreign game and Giovanni Faccini in the game designated for the Italian pitcher. On the other side of the diamond T&A San Marino will be looking to once again impress the rest of the league with a winner. The three time defending champs look almost the same as a year ago in terms of the position players that manager Bindi will have available. The only new face that can be found in the bunch is outfielder Paul Macaluso. The mound is a different story for San Marino in 2014, as the new names added to the roster will hope the fill the gap left by Tiago Da Silva. Look for the right-handed flamethrower Junior Guerra to match up with Cubillan in the foreign game and for veteran Cooper, and newbies D’Amico, Simone, and Andreozzi to carry the club in the Italian game. This should be an interesting matchup on both Friday evening in Padova (8:00 pm) and Saturday evening in San Marino (8:00 pm). T&A will be looking to get off to a better they did in 2013, especially seeing as if they will have less time to make up ground, while on the other side of the field Padova will most definitely look to make a statement in their inaugural series.

The other matchup in Division A will see a two game set to be played out between the 2013 European Champions Cup winners, Unipol Bologna and the Godo Knights. Bologna is a hungry team this year, and they are looking to get back to the top with their reinforced lineup, which is packed with both hard-hitting bats and power arms.  New to the club in 2014 are pitchers Williamson, De Santis, and Crepaldi. Williamson will most likely get the ball in the foreign game, pairing up with Rivero, while in the Italian game the lefty Panerati will get the call as the starter, while De Santis, Crepaldi, and Barbaresi will be available out of the pen.  The new names filing out the rest of the lineup for Bologna are the power hitting left fielder, Perez, Ambrosino in center, and Grimaudo at first. Look for Bologna to put up some serious runs this year on the offensive side of the ball, as well as being able to hold their own the mound. On Godo’s side of the field manager Fuzzi hopes on competing in 2014 after a disappointing 2013 campaign. New to the lineup this year will be Molina at third, and D’Amico at short. On the mound Calero will pair up with Ribeiro in the foreigner game, while Galeotti should get the start in the Italian game and be backed up by Cadoni, Bassani, Casalini, Bucchi, Savini and Perez. This club will need to pitch, play solid ‘D’ and rely on some timely hitting by heavy hitting Sanchez and Molina in order to be able to hang with the big boys. Game one on Friday night is scheduled for 8:30 in Bologna and game two on Saturday night in Godo at 8:30.

In Division B Rimini will be out to make some noise this year, and to clear out that bitter taste in their mouth of the 2013 Italian Baseball Series Finals after seeing the IBL championship slip away to T&A San Marino in the best of five series. To kick off the new year Rimini will be taking on Nettuno at home on Friday and Saturday, both games with an 8:30pm start time. New to Rimini’s already stacked lineup this year is Salazar at first and the well know ex Nettunese third baseman, Giuseppe Mazzanti. On the mound in the foreign game Ekstrom will get the call along side both Escalona and Marquez. In the Italian game it will be the sinkerball pitcher Corradini together with Cherubini, Patrone, Del Biancco and Biondi. Manager Catanoso should have no problem putting up run with the likes of Zileri, Santora, Gomez, Chiarini, Romero, Mazzanti, Salazar and Bertagnon, maybe the only question will be if the club can keep the opposing offensives off the scoreboard.  On the other side of the ball Nettuno is once again coming into the season with many question. The clubs new manager Scerrato will have his work cut out for him in his first year at the helm, but if there is one thing that always holds true to Nettuno, it is that you can never count them out. The team is almost completely new this year with a lineup that will feature Evangelisa, Caradonna, Nunez, Sforza, Castrí, Giordani, Paoletti, and Montecchi, while on the bump it will be Rodriguez, Lorenzo , Morellini, Lo Giudice, Pezzullo, Ciarla, Costantini, and Scirman.  Many questions yes, but don’t mark them off for that second spot in the division just yet.

Finally the last series set to take place in this opening weekend of the 2014 IBL season is that between Parma and the other newcomer, Nettuno 2. Parma, led by second year manager and well know, Orlando Munoz, just about shocked the Italian baseball world in 2013 when they found themselves just one game out of a playoff spot. They are a young and hungry bunch with one more year of experience under their belt and in a division where they should make some noise. New to Parma’s roster in 2014 are second baseman, R. Imperiali, third baseman Tagliavini, utility infielder Alessandro Fanfoni, and pitchers Gradali, and Yepez. Look for Sanchez to get the start in the foreigner game and for the southpaw Yepez to clean things up out of the pen. As for the Italian game, it should be the young lefty Rivera who gets the nod. Speed, defense and pitching will be the key to Parma’s success in 2014. On the other side of the field, Nettuno 2 is entering into uncharted waters, but they are doing so with some names that are fairly familiar to the IBL. Making up the infield for Nettuno 2 will be Pedroso at first, Fhurong and second, Martone at short, and Colagrossi at third. Trinci will be taking care of the catching duties, while in the outfield it will be Davenport, Sellaroli and Andreozzi. On the bump Gonzalez will get the start in the foreigner game, while it should be Pizziconi in the Italian game. Out of the pen look for Modica, Taschini, Rodo, the Cozzolino brothers, and Richetti. Game one is scheduled for 8:30 pm on Friday evening, and game two for 8:30 pm on Saturday evening, both games will be played in Rimini