The Italian Baseball League gears up for round two
On Thursday the 12th the second round of the Italian Baseball League will get underway with a matchup that will feature the likes of T&A San Marino and the Rimini Pirates. Game one of this three game set will get underway at 9:00 pm local time, while games two and three are scheduled to be played on Friday afternoon and evening (4:00 pm and 9:00 pm). All three encounters between T&A and Rimini will take place in San Marino. On Friday evening the other two second round teams, Lino’s Coffee Parma and UnipolSai Bologna, will begin their march towards the Italian Baseball Series, which will feature the top two clubs out of the remaining four that are set to kick off round two of the IBL. Game one between Parma and Bologna will get underway in Parma at 9:00 pm, while game two is scheduled for 4:00 pm on Saturday, and game three for 9:00 pm on Saturday as well. The four clubs that didn’t make the second round cut will now be headed onto the Italian Cup tournament which will also get underway this weekend with a two game a week format.
With the second round’s three game a week formula each of the four remaining clubs have the opportunity to add an extra foreign player to their roster, with two of the four clubs also using their remaining visas to pick up a replacement or extra bat in their lineup. Beginning with UnipolSai Bologna out of Division A.. Joining Bologna roster for round two are two new names, an arm by the name of out of the Dominican Republic, and a bat by the name of (Australian ex Big Leaguer). Bologna’s goal in round two will be to improve on their first round .235 team batting average (3 homeruns and 22 doubles) to go along with their impressive 1.77 team ERA.
Next up, T&A San Marino seems to have found their groove over the last 10 games where they came out on the winning side a total of 9 times. They are a team trying to defended their title for the fourth consecutive year, but they are also a club that has had to deal with quite a few injury issues thus far in 2014, beginning with left-handed pitcher Chris Cooper (3.0 innings pitched thus far in 2014), Shortstop Daniel Bittar (1 for 9, out indefinitely with back problems), and Utility Infielder Giovanni Pantaleoni (on the DL since a bad collision suffered back on 26th of April). Thus far San Marino has hit their way past opponents, supporting a league best team .274 batting average with 125 runs scored in only 20 games played. Joining the club for round two will be right-handed pitcher (Venezuelan with Big League time). In round two San Marino will hope on the return of Chris Cooper, and with more support from their Italian pen to go along with their potent offense.
Division B will be represented by both the Rimini Pirates and Lino’s Coffee Parma. Getting started with Rimini, a team that comes limping into round two with a number of injury issues, of which includes the loss of their team captain, Marino Chiarini (out for an undisclosed amount of time with a shoulder injury). This upcoming Thursday and Friday it is possible that Peppe Mazzanti will be able to rejoin the club, but not a certainty (recovering from a pulled leg muscle). Also out for Rimini is right-handed pitcher Sandy Patrone (pulled calf muscle). Rimini has an extremely solid foreign mound with Ekstrom (1.16 ERA), Escalona (0.00 ERA in 14.1 IP) and Marquez (0.00 ERA in (21.2 IP). Now joining this elite group of arms will be ex Major League, (Venezuelan with 55 Big League games under his belt). We’ll have to see if these big 4 will be enough to pave the way yet another Italian Baseball Series appearance in August.
Finally onto Lino’s Coffee Parma, a club that some say is the weakest of the final four, however it would be a big mistake to under evaluate this group of ball players, a group that is know for leaving it all out on the field. Parma’s offense has struggled thus far in 2014 with a very low .226 team batting average (only 1 homerun), but word on the street is that they are very close to signing an extra bat that should bring a little more depth in Parma’s current 1 through 9. One for sure thing is that this group should have no problem pitching with the best of them with the likes of Sanchez, Yepez and the newly acquired righty . Come Wednesday afternoon we should know if and who the other foreign bat will be.
