The Italian U-18 National Team opened camp on 29 August at the Baseline Sports Complex in Toronto, Canada, in preparation for next week's start of the XXX WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup.
The Azzurri will play warm-up games against the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, York University and Toronto Metropolitan University, before flying to Florida on 6 September.
The local Italian community supports the training camp and is overseen by the Italian Consul General Luca Zelioli.
During the U-18 National Team's stay in Canada, the Italian Baseball Softball Federation (FIBS) announced a partnership with Between the Lines, a technological resource providing baseball and softball athletes and organizations an opportunity to develop, showcase, and promote their skillset to collegiate programmes.
Between the Lines co-founder and former Colorado Rockies pitcher Matt Meier announced that he would make the Italian players' performance data available to their coaching staff and college coaches in the US.
World No. 17 Italy will open their XXX U-18 Baseball World Cup in Group B against No. 1 Japan on 9 September. They will also face No. 2 Chinese Taipei, No . 4 Mexico, No. 13 Panama and No. 10 Australia.
The top three teams out of the group will advance to the next stage, the Super Round.
Manager Francesco Aluffi selected 20 players, including Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguer Alessandro Ercolani.
The ROSTER
Aluffi's coaching staff includes bench coach John Cortese, pitching coach Massimiliano Masin, pitching specialist Bobby Cramer, and coaches Stefano Cappuccini, Davide Sartini and Gianmarco Faraone.
