(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Ezio Ratti/World Baseball Softball Confederation)
     Spain qualifies for Premier12 after beating Italy; first win Germany
Nederlands
 BARCELONA (Spain) -
On Saturday-evening (October 10), Spain (ranked 26) outscored Italy (ranked 14) 5-2 to record its second victory on Day 2 of the Premier12 Qualifier in Barcelona.
Spain collected ten basehits and led 5-0 halfway the seventh inning.
With the win, Spain secured itself of qualification for next years Premier12 and also will finish in first place in the Qualifier.
The Spanish win also meant that Colombia was eliminated.
The winner of Sunday's game between Italy and Germany will become the second team to qualify for the Premier12.
Germany recorded a 6-1 win against Colombia on Saturday-afternoon.
For Germany, this was the first win of the event.
On Friday-evening, Germany suffered a 3-2 loss in 10 innings against Spain after having led 2-0 halfway the seventh inning.
For Colombia, this was the second loss.
On Friday-afternoon, Colombia led 3-1 halfway the eighth inning against Italy, but lost 4-3.
The three-day tournament in Barcelona is the first of two Premier12 Qualifiers.
The second one will be held on November 26-28 in Zhongshan (China).
Participating in Zhongshan are host China (17 on WBSC world ranking), Czechia (15), Great Britain (19, wild card) and Nicaragua (16).
...Home Plate Umpire Edwin Louisa during the pre-game meeting with...
...Managers Jendrick Speer (Germany, left) and Giovanny Urshela Salcedo (Colombia)...
(© Photo: Ezio Ratti/World Baseball Softball Confederation) |
The teams in first and second place of both tournaments will qualify for the 4th WBSC Premier12 in 2027, which will be expanded to 16 participating countries.
In the first three editions (2015, 2019, 2024), twelve teams participated.
The twelve highest-ranked National Teams, based on the WBSC World Rankings, as of 31 December 2025, already qualified to participate in the group stage of the Premier12 in 2027.
The countries ranked 13-18 and two wild cards will play in the two Qalifiers to determine the other four participants in the group stage.
The countries that already secured their participation in the Premier12 are Australia (11th on World Ranking), Chinese Taipei (2), Cuba (10), the Dominican Republic (12), Japan (1), Mexico (6), the Netherlands (9), Panama (8), Puerto Rico (7), the USA (3), Venezuela (5) and South Korea (4).
On Saturday-afternoon, with Dutch umpire Edwin Louisa behind the plate, Germany broke an 1-1 tie against Colombia in the fifth inning, then produced a deciding 3-run rally in the seventh inning.
Christian Pedrol went the distance for Germany and dominated.
The righthander struckout ten batters and gave up only two basehits.
The 26-year old Pedrol was born in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo and pitched three seasons (2017-2019) in the Minor League in the Seattle Mariners-organization, reaching Triple-A in 2019 (one game).
In 2022, Pedrol pitched for the Brazilian National Team in the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Panama.
In the 2022-2023 winter-season, Pedrol played in Nicaragua and in 2024, he pitched for San Marino in the Italian Serie A.
Last year, Pedrol participated with Germany in the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Tucson, Arizona (USA).
...Christian Pedrol went the distance for Germany...
(© Photo: Ezio Ratti/World Baseball Softball Confederation) |
Although Pedrol did very well, he and Germany trailed 1-0 after three innings.
After having retired the first six batters, Pedrol gave up a lead-off single in the third to Dario Andres Borrero Briceńo, followed by a walk and a sac-bunt.
Borrero then scored on a grounder by Dayan de Jesus Frias Serrano.
Germany came alongside in the fourth inning off of starter Luis Alberto Escobar Hernandez, who in 2019 pitched in four Major League-games in relief for Pittsburgh Pirates.
Escobar played six seasons (2014-2019) in the Minor Leagues in the Pirates-organization.
In recent years, Escobar played in professional leagues in Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela.
In 2017, he was on Colombia's roster for the World Baseball Classic, but did not play.
In March of this year, Escobar returned with Colombia to the Classic and this time, he appeared in two games.
With two outs in the fourth, Eric Brenk (fielder's choice) was on first base.
He then stole second base and scored the tying run when a drive by Luca Hörger ended in an outfield-error.
In 2024, Eric Brenk played in 13 games for HCAW in the Dutch big league.
In the fifth, Germany took a 3-1 lead.
When Darrion Richards led off with a single, Roberto Carlos Perez Bohorquez took over from Escobar, but he ran into problems.
On his first pitch, Perez gave up a double to Tristan Russell.
After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Richards and (American-born) Russell both scored when (Canadian-born) Billy Germaine followed with a single.
Germaine plays in the German Bundesliga-1 since 2019.
In that year, he was player-coach of Ulm Falcons.
Next, he played for Stuttgart Reds (2020-2021) and Tübingen Hawks (2022).
Since 2023, Germaine plays for Heidenheim Heideköpfe.
In 2022, Germaine also for Germany in the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in Regensburg (Germany).
...Billy Germaine batted in five runs for Germany...
...on the photo, he is greeted by 3B Coach...
...Octavio Medina after his 3-run homerun...
(© Photo: Ezio Ratti/World Baseball Softball Confederation) |
Germany took more distance with a 3-run rally in the seventh inning.
Reliever Yoryi Luis Simarra Arnedo walked lead-off hitter Tristan Russell and then was replaced by Kermin Guardia Villa.
He saw Russell steal second base, then walked Yannic Walther.
Moments later, Guardia gave up a 3-run homerun to Billy Germaine.
That made it 6-1, which also was the final score.
Germaine batted in five of the six German runs.
On Saturday-evening, Spain won 5-2 against Italy to record its second victory and become the first team to qualify for the Premier12.
Spain collected ten basehits and led 5-0 halfway the seventh inning.
Spain threatened early to open the score.
In the first inning off of starter Mattia Aldegheri, but then stranded runners on first and third base, who had reached with two outs.
In the second inning, Spain got the bases loaded after the first two batters were retired.
The three runners were also left behind.
But in the third inning, Spain scored twice.
Edison Valerio led off with an infield-hit and reached on a close call.
After German 1B Umpire Tim Meyer had made the safe-call, Italian Manager Francisco Cervelli signaled for a challenge.
But the video-review confirmed that Meyer had made the correct call.
Hereafter, Valerio advanced to third base on a following single by Omar Hernández.
Next, Hernández moved on a wild pitch and Rusber Manuel Estrada Luis followed with a runscoring single.
That ended Aldegheri's stay on the mound.
Angelo Palumbo took over, but he was greeted with a sacrifice fly from Felix Stevens Cańizares, which gave Spain a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, Palumbo retired the side and in the fifth, Spain left two runners behind.
In the sixth, Spain struck again, this time with three runs.
With one out, Frank Hernández and Luis Miguel Guillorme González singled, which led to a pitching-change.
Marco Artitzu took over, but with two outs, he gave up an RBI-single to Omar Hernández.
Artitzu then walked Rusber Manuel Estrada Luis, which loaded the bases.
Spain then added two more runs on a following single by Felix Stevens Cańizares to make it a 5-0 score.
In the seventh inning, Filippo Crepaldi became Italy's fourth pitcher.
He gave up a 2-out double, but then closed with a strikeout.
In the eighth, Crepaldi also closed with a strikeout, this time with a runner on first base.
In the ninth, Crepaldi again had two outs, but now walked a batter.
Yomel Rivera took over the pitching and got a flyout.
And so, Spain was kept scoreless in the final three innings, but the five runs were enough.
...WBSC-President Riccardo Fraccari hands out the...
...Premier12-ticket to team-captain Omar Hernández...
(© Photo: Ezio Ratti/World Baseball Softball Confederation) |
Spanish starter José David Gómez Bolívar gave up only two basehits in the five innings he was on the mound, while striking out seven batters.
In the second inning, Italy had runners on first and second base with one out, but failed to open the score.
It was the only time that Italy came into scoring-position in the first five innings off of Gómez.
In the sixth inning, with a 5-0 lead, Gómez allowed the first two batters to reach base via a hit batter and a walk.
Royd Hernández then was inserted as new pitcher.
With one out, a force play-grounder accounted for the second out, but a following walk loaded the bases.
Again, Italy was unable to score, as a grounder ended the at bat.
Italy finally managed to score in the seventh.
Off of new pitcher Junior Bonilla, Noel Gonzalez and pinch-hitter Federico Celli hit back-to-back doubles to produce the first Italian run.
Bonilla followed with two strikeouts.
After issuing a walk, Ramon Rossó took over from Bonilla and got an inning-ending force play-grounder.
In the eighth, Italy had two runners on base off of Rossó, who then closed with two strikeouts.
In the ninth, Italy scored its second run off of closer Carlos Sierra.
He gave up a lead-off single to Andrea Sellaroli, who stole second base and then scored on a single by Gabriele Angioi.
Sierra struckout the next three batters to end the and to underscore the dominance of the Spanish pitching.
Five pitchers struckout fourteen batters.
After the final out, the benches emptied when some players of both teams exchanged some words, but the order was quickly restored and so, Spain could start its celebrations.
With the win, Spain qualified for next years Premier12 .
It will mark the first time that Spain will participate in the global tournament.
(October 10)
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