Nettuno Forces Game 7 In Italian Series

ITALY - Danesi Nettuno raced out to an early 3-0 lead and held on to beat T&A San Marino 4-3 in Game 6 of the Italian Series on Friday night to tie the series and force a winner-take-all Game 7 on Saturday for the league championship.

Nettuno tagged San Marino starter Matteo Tonellato for a run in the first when Giuseppe Mazzanto groundout to third base plated leadoff man Carlos Duran. The hardly-used Tonellato, who had pitched only 2 1/3 innings during the 2008 post-season, allowed a run-scoring single to Mazzanti and a RBI sacrifice fly to Igor Schiavetti in the third to fall behind 3-0.

San Marino climbed back into the game in the fourth when Martin Vasquez led off the inning with a solo home run over the center-field fence and Dean Rovinelli swatted his fourth long ball of the finals - a solo blast - to make the score 3-2.
But, Duran cracked his second double of the game in the bottom of the inning and scored on Luis Ugueto’s run-scoring single to give Nettuno a 4-2 cushion.

Nettuno starter Carlos Richetti found himself in a jam in the fifth after walking James Buccheri and hitting Seth La Fera with an inside pitch with just one out. However, Vasquez went down swinging and Max De Biase flied out to center-field to end the scoring threat.

Reliever Marco Constantini replaced Richetti to start the eighth and retired La Fera before Vasquez clubbed his second solo shot of the game to pull San Marino within one, 4-3. De Biase reached second base on an error by the Nettuno third baseman before Constantini walked the next two batters to load the bases. But, again, San marino failed to deliver the clutch hit as Francesco Imperiali lined out to third and Riccardo Suardi struck out to end the inning with the bases loaded.

La Fera stroked a two-out single to right-field in the ninth before Vasquez walked to put the tying runner on second for De Biase. However, the San Marino designated hitter who is playing injured grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

Richetti turned in a solid outing scattering two runs and five hits over seven innings while fanning seven. Tonellato yielded four runs on six hits and walks, respectively, and was charged with the loss.

Nettuno is expected to start Nelson Cruz on the mound in Game 7 on Saturday while T&A San Marino will give the ball to Horacio Estrada.

Click here for more Italian Baseball news

Sponsored Links: