Europe’s top-ranked nations Italy, Netherlands to meet in European Baseball Series
VERONA, Italy-Game 1 of the third edition of the European Baseball Series will be played on Friday, 20 October. Game 2 will follow on Saturday, 21 October in Godo di Russi (Ravenna) and game 3 is scheduled for Sunday, 22 October in Lodi
Italy and The Netherlands, the power houses of European Baseball, will resume the European Baseball Series. The third edition (after 2006, The Netherlands won 3 games to 2 and 2009, Italy won 2 games to 1) of the event will be a 3 game series. Game 1 will be played on Friday, 20 October at 7 pm CET in Verona; game 2 is scheduled for Saturday, 21 October at 5 pm CET in Godo di Russi (Ravenna) and game 3 will follow at 3 pm CET on Sunday, 22 October in Lodi, 40 KMs south of Milan.
ALL DETAILS ON THE EUROPEAN BASEBALL SERIES
The European Baseball Series are sanctioned by WBSC.
Game 1 will be live on FOX Europe (play by play in English by Tim Collins) and FOX Italy (play by play in Italian by Michele Gallerani and Sal Varriale).
The whole series will be streamed live on PGM Sport web platform (play by play in Italian by Matteo Gandini and Kevin Senatore).
The Netherlands (number 8 in WBSC World rankings) are the reigning Champions of Europe. Manager Steve Janssen selected a mix of veterans and prospects of the Dutch Hoofdsklasse, adding pitcher Bolsenbroek (German BundesLiga), infielder Oliver Van der Wijst (a 19 year old Dominican born second baseman in the Houston Astros organization) and catcher Paul Brands (a 20 year old who played Rookie League for the Pittsburg Pirates). This is The Netherlands roster:
PITCHERS (8) Cordemans, Markwell, Huijer, Heijstek, Bolsenbroek, Yintema, Ploeger, Rietel
CATCHERS (2) Daal, Brands
INFIELDERS (7) Van den Meer, Nick Urbanus, Dwayne Kemp, Leonora, Max Draijer, Van der Wijst, Zeerzinho Croes
OUTFIELDERS (4) Sams, Remco Draijer, Daniel Fernandes, Linoy Croes
Coaches Sidney de Jong and Wim Martinus complete Janssen’s staff
Steve Janssen, a Belgian born manager, won the 2014 and 2016 European Championship as the skipper for The Netherlands. In the 2015 he manager the WBSC European All Star against Samurai Japan
Italy (ranked number 12 by WBSC) is going through a rebuilding process. New manager Gilberto Gerali put together a pitching staff made of young arms except for veteran right hander Alessandro Maestri (who played as high as Double A for the Cubs in the USA, for the NPB Oryx Buffaloes in Japan and for the KBO Hanwha Eagles in South Korea and in 2017 was a starter for Veracruz in the Mexican Summer League), who will start game 1. As many as 17 players on the rosters were developed in the Italian Federation Academy in Tirrenia and 3 players of the U-18 National Team (Angioi, Bertossi and Seminati) will join. This is the roster of the Azzurri:
PITCHERS (12) Coveri, Fabiani, Andrea Pizziconi, Bassani, Maestri, Rivera, Tommaso Cherubini, Yuri Morellini, Scotti, Clemente, Panerati, Simone
CATCHERS (3) Deotto, Mineo, Trinci
INFIELDERS (8) Agretti, Angioi, Bertossi, Mercuri, Sambucci, Seminati, Robel Garcia Rodriguez, Vaglio
OUTFIELDERS (5) Ambrosino, Grimaudo, Nicola Garbella, Sebastiano Poma, Reginato
After serving as the bench coach for Marco Mazzieri, Gibo Gerali is the new manager of the Italian National Team (ML Oldmanagency-FIBS)
Bench Coach John Cortese (the U-18 National Team manager), pitching coach Rolando Cretis (who has the same role on the U-18 National Team) and coaches Alberto D’Auria, Claudio Liverziani and Alessandro Guerra complete Italy’s staff.
