Upset over USA validates Francisco Cervelli’s belief in Italy baseball
-
José de Jesus Ortiz, Founder & Editor in Chief
- March 11, 2026
USA at risk of WBC elimination
HOUSTON – Francisco Cervelli has spent the last year trying to build support for baseball in Italy, one of the world’s best and most passionate soccer countries. It hasn’t been easy for the former big league catcher from Venezuela to persuade folks that Italy can succeed in America’s pastime.
Yet on a glorious Tuesday night at Daikin Park, Cervelli and Team Italy delivered the ultimate proof of concept with a historic 8-6 victory over Aaron Judge and Team USA’s superstars at the World Baseball Classic.
With home runs from Kyle Teel, Sam Antonacci and Jac Caglianone and three unearned runs, Italy jumped to an 8-0 lead. Then they held on against Team USA, which stayed up late drinking beer and telling stories after beating rival Mexico 5-3 the previous night.
‘Means everything’
“It means everything because I’ve been doing this job for a year already not only here in the WBC but in Italy as well,” Cervelli said. “Tried to convince people that we can play baseball, that we can do special things in Italy.
“So what I like about this result is that they’re going to start believing more. More people are going to be around us. They’re going to support us because we need help. We cannot do it by ourselves. So it means everything for me tonight.”
Italy improved to 3-0 in Pool B play. Team USA fell to 3-1. Italy will face Mexico (2-1) in the Pool B finale on Wednesday night at Daikin Park. Italy will advance to the quarterfinals as the Pool B winner with a victory.
If Mexico wins to set a three-way tie, a tiebreaker will be determined by the most runs allowed in the games between Mexico, Italy and the U.S.
Mexico will advance with a victory or be eliminated with a loss against Italy. Team USA allowed 11 runs combined against Mexico and Italy. The U.S. must hope Italy beats Mexico or loses while giving up at least five runs.
USA players ‘dragging’
Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said before the loss that some of his players were “dragging” after drinking beers, telling stories and pushing the team bus’ return to the hotel until 12:30 a.m. after beating Mexico.
Even worse perhaps, DeRosa insinuated on MLB Network early Tuesday that the U.S. had already secured a place in the quarterfinals.
More from Our Esquina
Team Mexico falls short against USA
Benjamin Gil is confident in Team Mexico
Alejandro Kirk defies stereotypes, inspires a continent
“I misspoke,” DeRosa said before conceding that he misread the calculations. “I was on ‘Hot Stove’ with a couple of buddies today and completely misread the calculations. We knew that Mexico was going to play Italy. And then running all the numbers with if we lost tonight with the runs allowed and runs scored, outs, I just misspoke.”
It’s unclear if Team USA would have stayed in the clubhouse drinking after beating Mexico if DeRosa and his coaching staff knew there was a chance that they could be eliminated if they lost to Italy.
Whatever the case, it was a historic victory for a team full of Italian Americans and led by a Venezuelan Italian.
Dominant Michael Lorenzen
“It’s incredible to make history like that,” Michael Lorenzen said after throwing 4 ⅔ scoreless innings for the victory.
Caglianone, an Italian American who also has Puerto Rican roots, hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to make it 5-0. As soon as Caglianone saw his blast clear the wall in right field, he took a few steps up the first-base line. Then the 6-foot-4, 240-pounder delivered the bat flip of the World Baseball Classic.
He tossed his bat across the third-base line and halfway toward the visitors’ dugout, barely missing a teammate and a batboy.
“I hit it and it felt pretty good,” Caglianone, 23, said. “I kind of knew I got it. The pine tar was a little sticky, if I’m being 100 percent honest with you. I tried to release it, and my glove just wouldn’t open until it got a little too high.
“So I saw it fly, and it was just one of those things. I regret that. But the moment was awesome. It fired up the guys. I almost hit one of them. But it’s just part of the game in a way. It wasn’t intentional, to say the least.”
‘Best days of my life’
Italy added three unearned runs in the sixth. Gunnar Henderson’s solo home run to right got Team USA on the board in the bottom of the sixth. An inning later, Pete Crow-Armstrong cut the deficit to 8-4 with a three-run home run to right.
Kyle Schwarber, Will Smith and Roman Anthony hit consecutive one-out singles in the eighth to cut the deficit to 8-5 on Anthony’s RBI single to left. With the potential tying run at the plate, Ron Marinaccio escaped further damage by inducing Bryce Harper’s fly out to left.
Crow-Armstrong cut the deficit to 8-6 with his second homer of the night in the ninth inning. Witt followed with a single. Greg Weissert then struck out Gunnar Henderson and Judge to seal the upset.
“One of the best days of my life,” Cervelli said. “I’m proud of my guys. They’re young, but they play like they’ve been in the big leagues for 10 years. Their focus was there. Everybody in Italy should see this. We’re doing it for them, for the kids. It can happen. It is possible.”
José de Jesus Ortiz
Founder & Editor in Chief
Award-winning writer Jose de Jesus Ortiz, a former lead sports columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has covered Major League Baseball since 1997 in Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, New York and Houston. He was the first Latino to serve as president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Stay in the Loop
Get the Our Esquina Email Newsletter
By submitting your email, you are agreeing to receive additional communications and exclusive content from Our Esquina. You can unsubscribe at any time.