San Marino sits atop IBL; Rimini moves into 2nd place; Grosseto pulls Bologna down to 3rd

ROME – After Week 5 of the Italian Baseball League, five of the league’s eight teams have won at least half or more of their games, and 7-8 Parma is just one game below the .500 mark.  Surely Grosseto and Novara have contributed to this factor; together these two teams account for 44% of all the games lost in the IBL, having lost 25 of the 57 total games that have been played. In a few weeks (Week 8), Grosseto and Novara will battle, so at least one of these teams will add some games under the “w” column.

Grosseto picked up two precious wins against Bologna, doubling their win output on the season.  The Bolognesi had been in 2nd place coming into the series, so the series victory for Grosseto may have the alarm sounding with a little less associated panic.

San Marino couldn’t pull off a sweep of feisty Godo.  The Knights prevented the brooms from being taken out of the closet, beating San Marino 3-2 in the third and final game of their series. San Marino has only dropped three games on the year and sits over the rest of the league.

At a game above .500 at this point in the season, Godo management and players have to be thinking that the playoffs may not be an unreasonable objective, and a statement like this something would have been faced with extreme ridicule last season and even coming into this season.

Rimini swept past Novara, which lands the Pirates in 2nd place in the standing. The Pirates pulverized Novara, outscoring their Piedmont hosts 34-8 over the three game set. Rimini will be facing competition at the other end of the spectrum in Week 6, when the Pirates battle it out with crosstown rival, San Marino.

Nettuno sent Parma under the .500 mark by taking two of their three games in Parma. Parma took the first game Friday night, but Nettuno swept the Saturday double-header, 9-0 and 6-5 (10 innings).