The Italian Baseball League (IBL) has reached the second to last weekend in its round robin semifinals round… with this weekend being the most important of them all as it will be the Rimini Pirates locked up in a three game set with T&A San Marino with both clubs currently sitting at a 6 and 6 mark. Games one and three of this series will take place in Rimini, while game two will be in San Marino. Elsewhere in the league, UnipolSai Bologna will look to lock down the top seed in the league when they go head to head with Tommasin Padova in a home-away-home three game set beginning tonight in Bologna. All games (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) are set to get underway at 9 pm local time. Tonight’s RaiSport2 TV game of the week will feature UnipolSai Bologna vs. Tommasin Padova.
In the three game set between the Rimini Pirates and T&A San Marino, look for tensions to be flying high on both sides of the diamond. This historic rivalry will kick off on Thursday in Rimini in a game that should feature Candelario on the bump for the home Pirates vs. the southpaw, Rodney Rodriguez for T&A. When the series shifts up to San Marino on Friday it will be interesting to see what each club does… with Parise out of the picture for Rimini, it should be Escalona who fills in the gap left behind by the American righty, while on San Marino’s side look for Berg to get the ball in game two of this three game set. In game three it will be Richetti for the Pirates in Rimini, while San Marino will throw up another lefty, Oberto, it what could be the make or break game. Both clubs sit at 6 and 6 with just 6 games to go, mean that the winner of this three game set will be sitting pretty heading into the last weekend of play.
In the three game matchup between UnipolSai Bologna and Tommasin Padova… it looks to be Bologna who has the upper hand, needing just 2 games to lock up their second consecutive finals bid. On the other side of the ball, Padova is not quite out of the picture… yet. At the moment they sit 3 games back of both Rimini and San Marino with 6 to go. With that said the road isn't an easy one for this second year IBL club, but look for them to fight it out till the end. Going for Bologna on Thursday evening in Bologna will be Fleming who should be matched up with Quevedo for Padova. When the series shifts up to Padova on Saturday, it will be either Crepaldi or Faccini for Padova who will be matched up with De Santis for Bologna. In the conclusion of this three game set look for Rivero to get the call for Bologna at home, and Yorfrank Lopez to go for Padova.
