Grand Slam * Stats & News
Updated: September 4, 2016
Scores & Statistics
Baseball Scores & Stats
Softball Women Scores & Stats
Copyright © 1997-2016
Grand Slam/Marco Stoovelaar


www.grand-slam.nl
International Baseball
Headlines
Compiled and Copyright © 1997-2016 by Marco Stoovelaar




(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)

Loss and tie for Italy in Italian Baseball Week
Nederlands

TIRRENIA / FLORENCE (Italy) - The seventh edition of the Italian Baseball Week went underway on Saturday (September 3) at the Olympic Preparation Center in Tirrenia, near Pisa. On Sunday, the tournament continued with two games in Florence. The first Italian Baseball Week was organized in 2005.

This year, the national teams of the Czech Republic, Spain and host Italy participate in the 4-day event. For all three teams, the tournament will be the final preparations for the upcoming European Championship, which opens coming Friday in Hoofddorp and Nieuw-Vennep (Netherlands).

On Sunday and Monday, two games are played with one of the teams playing a double-header. Spain played twice on Sunday, the Czechs will play twice on Monday. All these games will last seven innings. Italy will play one game per day with the games on Saturday and Tuesday-evening lasting nine innings.

The event started with a surprise, as Spain opened on Saturday with a 3-1 win against Italy.

On Sunday, Spain initially led again in its second game against Italy, but that ended in a 4-4 tie. In the evening, Spain was shutout 11-0 by the Czech Republic, which also can be labeled as a suprising big score.

(September 4)




Spain vs. Italy
In the opening game of the Italian Baseball Week, host Italy was held scoreless for eight innings and ended up losing 3-1 to Spain.

Italian starter Junior Oberto walked the first batter he faced in the first inning, but then retired the next three. Oberto retired the side in the second at bat, but then saw Spain open the score in the third inning. With two outs, Daniel Martinez walked, stole second base and scored on a single by Oscar Angulo.

In the fourth inning, Frailyn Florian took over the Italian pitching. He gave up a 2-out single to Blake Ochoa, but he was eliminated moments later after a pick-off.

Florian also retired the side in his next inning, but then saw Spain get in scoring position again. In the sixth, Florian walked lead-off hitter Daniel Martinez. He went to second base when Florian's third pick-off attempt ended in a throwing error. However, he would later strand on third base.

In the seventh inning, Spain increased its lead to 3-0 off of new pitcher Yomel Rivera. He hit Jesus Ustariz, then gave up a homerun to Blake Ochoa.

Italy got a chance to open the score in its first at bat off of Ivan Granados. With one out, Italy got two runners on base when Alex Liddi singled and Alex Sambucci walked. But a force play and grounder ended the inning.

In the following innings, Italy got more runners in scoring position, but was unable to score. In the second, Mattia Mercuri doubled with one out, then Marco Sabbatini waked, but they also stranded. In the fourth, two runners again left at first and third base. In the fifth, pinch-hitter Paolino Ambrosino doubled with one out and was left behind. Trailing 3-0, Italy again left two runners in the eighth.

Italy then finally was able to score in the top of the nine inning off of closer Andres Perez. Mattia Reginato led off with a walk, moved on a grounder, was awarded third base on a balk, then scored on a single by Nick Nosti. Hereafter, Jairo Ramos Gizzi also singled. A double-steal led to runners on second and third base, but again the runners were left behind.

In total, Italy left 12 runners behind, including seven in scoring position. While Spain was leading as home team, the bottom of the ninth also was played in this game.



Spain - Italy 3-1
RHE
Italy000000001-181
Spain001000200-361
pitchers Italyinn.SOBBHRER
Junior Oberto, L (0-1)312111

Frailyn Florian3311--

Yomel Rivera1--122

Ludovico Coveri1--2--

Nicholas Pugliese11-1--
pitchers Spaininn.SOBBHRER
Ivan Granados4244--

Leslie Nacar, W (1-0)4412--

Andres Perez, SV (1)111211
Homerun: Spain: Blake Ochoa (1)(7th,2-run,off Rivera).
Umpires: HP-Fabrizio Fabrizi (Italy), 1B-Valerio Pizziconi (Italy), 3B-Christian Zannoni (Italy).
Official Scorers-Angela Zilli (Italy), Anna Maria Paini (Italy).
Starting Time-3:00 PM.
Time-3:18 hr.
Site-Centro di Preparazione Olimpica, Tirrenia (Italy).

Game Notes:
Game One Italian Baseball Week.




Italy vs. Spain
On Sunday-afternoon, Italy and Spain met again. Before the start of the game, there was a moment of silence to remember the victims of the recent earthquake in the center of Italy.

After having lost 3-1 to Spain on Saturday, Italy again faced a deficit in this game. Italy trailed 4-0 halfway the sixth inning, but was able to come alongside, ending the game with a 4-4 tie.

Spain scored its first two runs in the top of the first inning off of starter Luca Panerati. He walked lead-off hitter Daniel Martinez, saw him advance on a grounder, then score on a single by Jesús Golindano. With two outs, Golindano scored the next run on a double by Jesus Ustariz.

Spain added two runs off of new pitcher Gian Franco Rizzo in the fourth. This time, Ustariz led off with a double. He moved on a sacrifice bunt, then Lesther Galvan walked. Both runners went on to score on a following double by Leo Rodriguez to lift the lead to 4-0.

Italy was limited to only two basehits in the first five innings by two pitchers. In the sixth, Eduardo Miliani took over the Spanish pitching and saw Italy come back into the game. With one out, Sebastiano Poma walked, then Alessandro Vaglio singled to put runners on first and third base. With two outs, Alex Liddi homered, which narrowed the deficit to 4-3.

Liddi played in 61 Major League-games for the Seattle Mariners in 2011-2013. While playing in the organization of the Mariners, Liddi had been a teammate of Dutch professional Greg Halman, with whom he played in Triple-A and in the Major League in 2011. Liddi currently plays for Tigres de Quintana Roo in Mexico, which is at the Triple-A level.

In the bottom of the seventh, Italy came alongside. With two outs and Federico Celli (fielder's choice) on first base, Stefano Desimoni walked, then Sebastiano Poma delivered a runscoring single. Italy got the bases loaded hereafter when Alessandro Vaglio walked, but a flyout ended the at bat, meaning three runners were left behind.

As this was the final inning, the game ended with a 4-4 tie.



Italy - Spain 4-4 (7 inn.)
RHE
Spain2002000-471
Italy0000031-460
pitchers Spaininn.SOBBHRER
Lowuin Sacramento4522--

Rhiner Cruz121---

Eduardo Miliani2-3443
pitchers Italyinn.SOBBHRER
Luca Panerati331322

Gian Franco Rizzo111222

Ludovico Coveri1--1--

Filippo Crepaldi2111--
Homerun: Italy: Alex Liddi (1)(6th,3-run,off Miliani).
Umpires: HP-Christian Zannoni (Italy), 1B-Fabrizio Fabrizio (Italy), 3B-Valerio Pizziconi (Italy).
Official Scorers-Fausto Nardi (Italy), Marco Travagli (Italy).
Starting Time-5:17 PM.
Time-2:30 hr.
Site-Stadio Cerreti, Florence (Italy).

Game Notes:
Game Two Italian Baseball Week.




Spain vs. Czech Republic
After having won and play a tie against Italy, Spain was handed a big 11-0 shutout-loss by the Czech Republic on Sunday-evening.

The Czechs collected 13 basehits, while Spain was limited to only two.

The Czechs opened the score in the first inning off of Ricardo Hernández Sánchez. With two outs, the lefthander gave up back-to-back doubles to Matej Hejma and Jakub Sladek, which led to the first run.

From here on, the Czechs kept on scoring. Three runs were added in the third inning on four basehits, including a 2-run single by Jakub Malik and a runscoring double by Jakub Vojak.

Two more runs were scored in the fourth off of new pitcher Eric Izquierdo, which both were the result of a fielding error.

A 5-run rally was staged in the fifth inning on four basehits. With two outs and two runners on base, José Cruz became the new pitcher for Spain. However, he would give up four hits, including 2-run doubles by Martin Schneider and Tomáš Junec. In between, a run was scored on a passed ball.

Czech starter Radim Chroust retired the first eleven batters he faced. His No-Hitter then ended when Jesús Golindano singled with two outs in the fourth, but Chroust then closed with a strikeout.

Spain recorded its second basehit in this game with two outs in the sixth inning off of reliever Jan Novak. With two outs, Leo Rodriguez walked, then became the first Spanish runner to get into scoring position when next batter Daniel Sanchez singled. But both stranded.

In the seventh, Jesus Ustariz led off with a walk off of new pitcher Jan Tomek, but would later be eliminated in a game-ending double play.



Spain - Czech Republic 0-11 (7 inn.)
RHE
Czech Republic1032500-11130
Spain0000000-021
pitchers Czech Rep.inn.SOBBHRER
Radim Chroust, W (1-0)4.24-1--

Jan Novak1.1111--

Jan Tomek1-1---
pitchers Spaininn.SOBBHRER
Ricardo Hernández Sánchez, L (0-1)34-844

Eric Izquierdo1.222242

José Cruz2.131333
Umpires: HP-Valerio Pizziconi (Italy), 1B-Christian Zannoni (Italy), 3B-Fabrizio Fabrizi (Italy).
Official Scorers-Fausto Nardi (Italy), Stefano Pieri (Italy).
Starting Time-8:30 PM.
Time-2:25 hr.
Site-Stadio Cerreti, Florence (Italy).

Game Notes:
Game Three Italian Baseball Week.



Thank you for visiting this site.
Mail your suggestions and questions to stoov@wxs.nl
Copyright © 1997-2016 Marco Stoovelaar / Grand Slam * Stats & News.