UnipolSai Bologna the only team to sweep in the IBL’s opening weekend
Division A
Bologna began their 2014 campaign with a decisive 6-0 victory over Godo in Godo on Saturday afternoon. The game was never in question as the 2013 European Champs took it to the underdog early and often. It was Liverziani that got things going for Bologna in the top of the 1st when he smashed a three run shot out of the park off of lefty, Calero. Bologna went on to tack on 3 more runs in the 3rd and one more in the top of the 9th. Williamson pick up his first win in the Italian Baseball League with 6 innings of three hit ball, while Raul Rivero came on for the three inning save.
Game two of Saturday’s double dip between Bologna and Godo tuned out to be a blowout, with Bologna taking the game 11-0 in a shortened 7 inning affair. The trio of Panerati, De Santis and Crepaldi once again kept the home team off the scoreboard, while on the offensive side of the ball Infante (2-4 with 1 run scored and 3 RBI’s), Grimaudo (1-2 with 1 run scored and 2 RBI’s) and Fuzzi (1-2 with one run scored) all shined with the bat.
On Friday evening in Padova, T&A San Marino walked away with their first win of 2014 thanks to a dominant performance by Jr. Guerra (6 innings pitched, 1 hit, 11 K’s). With the bat both Pantaleoni and Vasquez had two hits and one RBI apiece. Driving in the other two earned runs were Ramos and Duran. The final score in this one was 5 to 1.
In game two of the two game set on Saturday night in San Marino it was Tommasin Padova’s turn to light up the score board with a 15 hit attack that plated 7 runs off the defending IBL Champs. The game was fairly quite until Padova’s offense struck for 5 runs in the top of the 8th off of Simone and Andreozzi. Causing most of the damage with the stick for Padova was Nosti (3 for 5 with 1 RBI) and Sandalo (2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s). San Marino did their best to make a comeback by answering with 3 of their own in the bottom half of the 8th, but nothing more was accomplished off of Jesus Medina (win), as he was able to upset the defending champs by closing the door 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th.
Division B
Lino's Coffee Parma rode the efforts of Josè Sanchez (win, 6 innings pitched, 1 hit, 1 run, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts) in their opening game on Saturday afternoon in front of their home crowd. Parma’s offense struggled slightly off of Nettuno2 starting pitcher, Gonzalez, however they were able to put the game out of reach in the 6th off of reliever, Cozzolino, when they struck for 3 runs. Yepez came on for the 3 inning save, giving up only one run in the top of the 9th.
In game two on Saturday evening in Parma it was Nettuno2’s turn to light up the scoreboard against the home team, however the runs in this one didn’t come until the top of the 11th inning when Nettuno2 struck for 3. The winning pitcher in this one for Nettuno2 was the veteran, Calros Richetti. The righty worked for 6.1 innings on the bump, allowing two earned runs in the bottom of the 8th. Roberto Rodo came on for the save in the bottom of the 11th, closing the game out by getting Marval to line into a game ending double play.
Ekstrom, Marquez, and Escalona all combined to shut down Nettuno’s offense on Saturday afternoon in Rimini as the home team walked away with the 3-0 victory in their first outing of the season. Ekstrom picked up the win for the Pirates, while on the backend it was Escalona that earned the save. On the offensive side of the ball Alex Romero continued right where he left off in 2013 going 3 for 4 in the box, while Gomez drove in two of the three runs.
In the nightcap in Rimini, Nettuno shocked the heavily favored Pirates with an 8-4 win. Nettuno struck for 15 hits in the game, which included 4 for 5 performances by both Sforza and Evangelista. Picking up the win for Nettuno was Rodney Rodriguez with 4.1 innings in relief (5 hit, 2 run, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts). Nettuno picked up one in the 2nd and 3rd, 4 in the 6th and 2 in the 9th.
