The Italians could significantly raise the profile of the sport in their country if they can find a way to beat Venezuela on Tuesday to advance to Round 2. Now that would be shock-the-world kind of stuff. Italy will start righthander Adam Ottavino, 23, a 2006 first-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals. Ottavino was 3-7 with a 5.23 ERA for Springfield last year.
Dan Serafini gave Italy three scoreless innings before getting tagged for three straight doubles that produced two runs for Canada in the fourth. Does the name sound familiar? Serafini, 35, actually had a fairly decent-sized run in the majors with the Twins, Padres, Cubs, Pirates, Reds and Rockies -- 104 games in all. In fact, he is one of 2,574 pitchers ever to appear in at least 100 big league games. And his ERA, 6.04, is the seventh worst among those 2,574 pitchers. Today, of course, he owns a much happier place in Italian baseball history.
Sports Illustrated
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