Israel 000 200 060 8 7 0 Italy 000 020 000 2 5 2
Israel made another big step towards qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. On Friday evening they beat Italy 8-2 and improved to 3-0 at the Europe/Africa Olympic Baseball Qualifier 2019 in Parma. They now have a one-game lead over Italy and the Netherlands in the standings with two games to go, while also holding tiebreakers over both European Baseball heavyweights.
A six-run eighth inning helped Israel to prevail over Italy. In the bottom of the seventh Italy had blown a huge opportunity to score. Nick Rickles homered for a second straight day and drove in four runs overall. Benjamin Wanger collected two RBI. Jonathan DeMarte struck out six in three scoreless innings to earn the win. Luis Lugo got charged with the loss.
Italy’s Chris Colabello, who had tied the game with a two-run double in the fifth, had to leave the game after being hit by a pitch in the face in the seventh inning.
All information about the Europe/Africa Olympic Baseball Qualifier 2019 can be found at www.wbsc.org.