Baltimore Orioles beat Italy in Scrimmage

ITA 000 000 000  0 4 2
BAL 003 000 010  4 7 0

Unofficial Box score at FIBS.it

On Tuesday the Italian National Team faced the Baltimore Orioles in an unofficial scrimmage in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was the first warm-up game before the start of the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The O’s scored three runs in the third en route to a 4-0 shutout.

Troy Patton, Bradley Bergesen, Wilfrido Perez, David Hernandez and Jim Hoey pitched for the Major League squad. Justin Christian, Donnie Murphy and Scott Moore scored runs in the third. Adam Donachie added a solo homerun in the eighth.

Italy sent Dan Serafini to the mound at the start of the scrimmage, who allowed one hit and a walk in two innings of work. Alex Maestri relieved him, giving up three runs on four hits and two base on balls, while striking out two. Luca Panerati, B.J. La Mura, Alessandro Ularetti and Tiago Da Silva combined for five one-hit innings of relief with the only blemish the solo shot by Donachie against Ularetti in the eighth. Leonardo Zileri led the offense with three hits in four at bats. Mario Chiarini went one-for-three.

Italy’s final roster, which was unveiled yesterday evening, features five current Major Leaguers with Mark DiFelice (MIL), Jason Grilli (COL), Frank Catalanotto (TEX), Nick Punto (MIN) and Chris Denorfia (OAK). You can find the complete final WBC roster on the official website. The team of manager Marco Mazzieri faces a Florida Marlins team today in another scrimmage (seven innings) at 10am ET in Jupiter, Florida.