(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball & Marco Stoovelaar)
  Italy prepares in Dominican Republic for Premier12 Qualifier
Nederlands
 BOCA CHICA (Dominican Republic) -
On Sunday (September 20), the Italian National Team traveled to the Dominican Republic, where it will prepare almost two weeks for the upcoming WBSC Premier12 Qualifier in Barcelona (Spain).
...Marco Mazzieri as Italy...
...Manager at the 2007...
...World Cup in Taiwan...
(© Photo: Marco Stoovelaar) |
The Italian Baseball and Softball Federation announced on September 7 that the National Baseball Team will prepare at the New York Mets Performance Centre and Development Facility in Boca Chica.
There, the Azzurri first will train from September 21 through 25.
Next, the team then will play six practice-games against teams of the Dominican Professional Winter League (Liga de Béisbol Profesional de la República Dominicana, LIDOM).
The first game will be played on September 26, the last on October 3.
The WBSC Premier12 Qualifier in Barcelona will take place October 9-11.
,,We wanted the team to face high-level competition.
I want to thank the LIDOM leadership for giving us this opportunity'', said Marco Mazzieri, President of the Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball (FIBS) in the announcement.
On September 26, Italy will meet Estrellas Orientales in the first game.
From September 29, Italy will play daily.
The team then faces Toros del Este (September 29), Leones del Escogido (September 30), Tigres del Licey (October 1), Toros del Este (October 2) and Leones del Escogido (October 3).
Leones del Escogido is the reigning LIDOM-champion, having captured the title in the past two seasons (2024-2025 and 2025-2026).
Currently, the Dominican teams are preparing for the new season, which opens on October 16.
In the 6-team Liga de Béisbol Profesional de la República Dominicana each team plays a 50-game regular season schedule (Serie Regular).
The top-four teams in the standings then play an 18-game round-robin Play-Off format (Serie Semifinal).
The top-two teams of the Play-Off Round then advance to the best-of-seven Serie Final.
Last season, Leones del Escogido won 4-1 against Toros del Este.
Italy Manager Francisco Cervelli selected 28 players for the trip to the Dominican Republic.
Amongst them are six players from ParmaClima.
They first will participate with their club in the Baseball Champions League Europe Final Four coming weekend in Brno (Czechia).
After completion, they will join the Italian Team in the Dominican Republic.
...Italy Manager Francisco Cervelli...
(© Photo: FIBS) |
Seven players on the Italian roster play for San Marino BC, which last year captured the title in the Serie A.
Earlier this month, Parma defeated San Marino 4-1 in the best-of-seven Italian Series to win its 12th Championship-title.
The other players come from Hotsand Macerata Angels (5), Unipol Bologna (4), BSC Grosseto (3) and Nettuno BC 1945 (1).
Two played for Dunedin Blue Jays, the Single-A tean of Toronto Blue Jays.
Francisco Cervelli became Italy's Manager in January 2025, succeeding Mike Piazza.
Under Cervelli, Italy ended up just short in the Final of the 2025 European Championship in Rotterdam (Netherlands), losing 6-5 to the Netherlands.
In March of this year, Italy was undefeated (4-0) in pool play during the World Baseball Classic, which included a surprising 8-6 win against the USA
The Azzurri then defeated Puerto Rico 8–6 to reach the Semi-Finals for the first time, but then was defeated 4-2 by Venezuela.
In July, Italy won 4-3 against the Netherlands in the Final of the Baseball Week Haarlem, winning the event for the first time.
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).
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).
Participating in Barcelona will be Colombia (13), Germany (18), Italy (14) and host Spain (26, wild card).
Participating in Zhongshan are host China (17), Czechia (15), Great Britain (19, wild card) and Nicaragua (16).
The six games in Barcelona will be played in Camp Municipal de Béisbol Carlos Pérez de Rozas, which is located in the Olympic Ring (Anella Olímpica) on the hill of Montjuic.
In the Barcelona Qualifier, the two highest ranked teams will play two home-games, being Colombia (13) and Italy (14).
The schedule is as follows:
October 9: Italy vs. Colombia (12 PM), Spain vs. Germany (7 PM)
October 10: Colombia vs. Germany (12 PM), Italy vs. Spain (7 PM)
October 11: Germany vs.Italy (12 PM), Colombia vs. Spain (7 PM)
(September 20)
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