HOUSTON — The cases of wine hadn’t arrived yet Wednesday night, but Vinnie Pasquantino, Aaron Nola and their Team Italy teammates certainly expect their shipment soon from Team USA, with perhaps a few boxes of pizza from Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Bobby Witt Jr. and the boys.
Pasquantino set a World Baseball Classic record by hitting three homers and Nola suffocated Mexico’s lineup, the duo leading Italy to a 9-1 win over Mexico, securing a quarterfinal berth for Italy while permitting the USA to stay alive and slide into the quarterfinals as the No. 2 seed.
The USA will play Canada, the top seed from Pool A, on Friday night, while Italy, the top seed from Pool B, will host Puerto Rico on Saturday night with both games at Daikin Park in Houston. The winners of the two games will advance to the semifinals in Miami.
While Italy’s attack silenced the heavily pro-Mexico crowd of 39,894 at Daikin Park, the loudest cheers erupted from Team USA’s hotel.
The Americans knew that an Italy victory would automatically assure a quarterfinal berth since they were 3-1 in pool play, with their lone loss coming to Italy (4-0). Yet, the suspense ended early. They basically knew they were in by the fifth inning, once Italy scored their fifth run, giving them a tiebreaker advantage in runs allowed, even if Italy lost.
