The second phase of the IBL begins to come to light

What was a tangled mess in the Italian Baseball League has worked itself out over the last couple of weeks with Fortitudo Bologna and San Marino taking the two second round spots in Division A, and Rimini and Parma gaining a four game lead over the now third place Nettuno ballclub in Division B with only four games to go. In Division A, Bologna will without a doubt be the top club, while San Marino will take the two spot. In Division B a win by both Rimini and Parma, or a single loss by Nettuno mean that their will be no representatives out of the south in this year’s second round of the IBL, which is set to kick off at the end of June.

In Division A over the last couple of weeks both the Godo Knights and Tommasin Padova have fallen under hard times after getting off to wonderful starts in 2014. Just a couple of weeks back, both these clubs had at least a two game advantage over the now second place T&A San Marino club, however both have absolutely fallen under hard times since the second week of May. Godo has dropped seven straight, while Padova is looser of their last five, all this tangled up with the fact that San Marino is beginning to warm up with the weather, winners of their last seven games, has turned the tables on what looked to be the makings of an upset season in Division A. San Marino’s turn around can May turnaround has come with solid pitching in both the foreigner and Italian game, with both Guerra and Valerio Simone throwing up solid performances game in and game out. On the offensive side of the ball, the bats of Vasquez, Ramos and Duran have been doing most of the heavy lifting, while the likes of Avagnina, Imperiali and Mazzuca are beginning to take better AB’s at the plate. Last but certainly not least, UnipolSai Bologna has now officially clinched the top spot in the Division after their two game sweep of Godo over the weekend, pushing their overall record in 2014 to a very impressive 15 and 1. For Bologna it hasn’t been the offensive that has been doing to the damage, but it has been the pitching. With a team batting average of only .239, Bologna has struggled with the stick, but thanks to a team ERA of 1.45 they have been able to easily control their opponents run production.

In Division B, Nettuno has completely fallen off the pace over the last three weekends of play. Once in high hopes of a spot in round two, they have now lost seven straight games to fall four back of both Parma and Rimini, which has just about closed the door them. The final nail in the coffin may have come this past weekend after Nettuno suffered two losses (their sixth and seventh straight) to the Rimini Pirates at home, which means that one more win over the next four games by Rimini and Parma or even a single loss and they will official be out of round two of this year’s league. Of the two teams that look to be moving on to round two, it seems as if Parma may just have the stronger of the two mounds, with the duo of Sanchez and Yepez in the foreigner game and their combination of arms in the Italian game, which has been lead by the likes of Nicolas Giovanelli and his 0.73 ERA. When it comes to Rimini, they are club that looks really good in their foreigner game that is lead by Ekstrom, but they still do have a couple of gaps to fill in their Italian game, which has suffered five of their six losses in 2014. This upcoming weekend will be a big one in terms of determining the 1 and 2 in Division B, as both Rimini and Parma will go head to head in a two game set on Friday and Saturday. Finally and lastly in Division B sits Nettuno2, a team that has struggled mightily in this their first season in the IBL. Nettuno2 has been able to pitch a little, supporting a team ERA of 3.83, however their offense has been little to non thus far… leading to their disappointing to 2 and 14 mark.