San Marino beats Bologna in seven innings

In game one of the Italian Championship Series, T&A San Marino needed only seven innings to clinch the 10-0 victory. The long ball and a masterful Markus Solbach were the keys to the victory.

In the first inning, San Marino got on the board when Luca Pulzetti scored from second base on Maikel Caseres’ single to left field. But that would not be all. With runners in scoring position, Giovanni Garbella hit a huge bomb to left field to give San Marino a commanding 4-0 lead.

In the following three innings nothing much happened, especially on the side of Fortitudo Bologna as that team was kept in check completely by German native Markus Solbach. For 5.2 innings, Solbach was perfect but eventually his perfect game was spoiled by Fillippo Agretti who singled, followed by another single hit by Ray-Patrick Didder. That was the sign for manager Mauro Mazzotti to pull Solbach and replace him with Dimitri Kourtis, who pitched the remainder of the game.

In the fifth inning, Oscar Angulo hit a two-run home run to extend the lead to 6-0. For the change, Luca Pulzetti hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning and eventually the game was cut short when San Marino scored on a sac fly and a groundout in the seventh.

It may be clear that Markus Solbach earned the win. In 5.2 innings he gave up two hits and struck out thirteen (!). Murilo Brolo Gouvea took the loss. In three innings, he gave up four runs on five hits and three walks and struck out eight.

Maikel Caseres was the best hitter for T&A San Marino as he went 3 for 4 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored.

The next game will be on Friday in San Marino. The game will start at 20:00 (8:00 PM) and can be watched on http://www.fibstv.com.