Third win out of three for Italy, which closes the first phase of the European baseball championships by also dominating Austria with a 14-1 that tells of all the difference between the two teams. Too strong the blues of Mike Piazza, who activate the manifest already in the seventh inning and will challenge Croatia in the quarter-finals scheduled for Thursday.
After a first inning in which Austria behaves well and Ferrini and Friscia touch the home run, in the second the Italian maces proceed to mistreat the Austrian departing Duenas. The bases are filled, Epifano touches the home run (hits the mattress), but double arrives, followed by a crazy pitch that sends Celli home for the 3-0 Azzurri. Mercuri takes care of sending the ball where it cannot be reached: 2 RBI, 5-0, which becomes 6-0 with Ferrini using Pizzano’s single to complete the work he began by stealing second base.
For three times the situation, in essence, “calms down”, while in place of the starter Mattia Aldegheri enters Nicola Garbella on the mountain. In the sixth, Austria manages to build their only point well, with Hackl taking advantage of Mariette’s single on the right. At that point the tricolor club spins re-explode: it is Noel Gonzalez who finds the 9-1 home run by 3 RBI, followed immediately by a single homer from Ferrini.
The conclusion is even more spectacular: the bases are once again full, and at that point Vito Friscia reads the launch of the Austrian relief Alessandro Zoufal all too well: grand slam, walk-off and game over.
Photo: LiveMedia / Claudio Benedetto
