by Riccardo Schiroli
The 2009 Italian Baseball Series are over after 5 games. Nobody would have previewed it, since it looked obvious that the series would have gone at least 6 games. UGF Banca Bologna made everybody reconsider the preview outscoring T&A San Marino 33-9 and 33 hits to 13 in games 4 and 5. Pretty impressive, to say the least.
Especially 4 players proved to be outstanding. Let’s go in the order set by batting average: Claudio Liverziani (the series MVP) went 8 for 14 with one home run and 6 RBIs. He walked 8 times, so that his on base percentage is an out of this world .680 and his OPS is an inhuman 1.537. Richard Austin had a .471 batting average, with 2 homers and 7 RBIs; his on base percentage was .600 and his OPS 1.541. Juan Carlos Infante, coming back from an injury, made a strong statement to win the starting job for Team Italy at the IBAF World Cup: batting average .421 (1 homer, one RBI), on base percentage .571 and OPS 1.091 (it may not look impressive in comparison to Liverziani and Austin, but it is quite an accomplishment). Eddy Garabito hit .364 (3 homers and 6 RBIs) and had a ..423 on base percentage and a 1.196 OPS. Overall, Bologna had a .337 batting average in the series and outplayed San Marino.
“They did deserve the pennant” admitted San Marino skipper Doriano Bindi “We came short on pitchers. Unfortunately, we could not count on Crudale and Gregorius, 2 arms we believed could help us a lot but were released earlier this season. Starters did alright, but our bullpen lacked quality, with the exception of Schiavoni”.
Bologna manager Marco Nanni explained: “I am very proud of my staff, because we could get our 3 starters in such a good physical condition that they were able to go 100 or more pitches on 3 day rest. Of course, we were also lucky, because after the humiliating loss in San Marino, when they came back from a 9-0 deficit, in the semi final round robin, everything came together. To win, you need to be good and lucky”.
The series were a pretty good success of baseball overall. All of the 5 matches were televised by Rai Sport Più live and both stadiums (the “Falchi” in Bologna and the “Serravalle” in San Marino) enjoyed during the series the best crowds in years. Italian Baseball made another step towards the status of the game of the summer for Italians.
Hopefully, the international schedule will help European Leagues keep their highlights in the middle of the best season of the year.
Photo: Ferrini/FIBS