Venezuela national baseball team powered into its first-ever World Baseball Classic final with a 4-2 comeback victory over Italy national baseball team, fueled by a decisive seventh-inning rally.<\/p>\n
Led by stars Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr., Maikel Garcia and Luis Arraez, Venezuela produced three consecutive two-out RBI singles in the seventh inning to overturn a late deficit and seize control of the game.<\/p>\n
The win sets up a championship showdown against the United States national baseball team, with Eduardo Rodr\u00edguez expected to start for Venezuela against Nolan McLean for the U.S.<\/p>\n
Venezuela\u2019s energy was evident from the start, as players danced to traditional tambor rhythms in the dugout before first pitch\u2014a cultural ritual that has become a defining feature of their tournament run.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s us. That\u2019s our country,\u201d said manager Omar L\u00f3pez. \u201cThat\u2019s how we enjoy our baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Italy, managed by Francisco Cervelli, entered the semifinal unbeaten at 5-0 and made history as the first European team to reach this stage. They took a 2-0 lead early, capitalizing on walks and steady pressure.<\/p>\n
But Venezuela responded in the fourth inning with a home run from Eugenio Su\u00e1rez, sparking a comeback that culminated in the dramatic seventh inning.<\/p>\n
After Gleyber Torres reached base and Jackson Chourio delivered a key hit, Acu\u00f1a tied the game with an infield single. Garcia followed with the go-ahead RBI, and Arraez added insurance to complete the rally.<\/p>\n
On the mound, relievers including \u00c1ngel Zerpa helped keep Italy in check before Daniel Palencia closed the game with a dominant save, striking out the final batter.<\/p>\n
Despite the loss, Italy\u2019s run was widely celebrated. Team captain Vinnie Pasquantino emphasized the broader impact of their performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t successful on the field tonight, but we were successful in Italy,\u201d he said, highlighting the growing popularity of baseball in the country.<\/p>\n
For Venezuela, the focus now shifts to the final, where they aim to complete a historic run and claim their first World Baseball Classic title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Venezuela national baseball team powered into its first-ever World Baseball Classic final with a 4-2 comeback victory over Italy national baseball team, fueled by a decisive seventh-inning rally. Led by stars Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr., Maikel Garcia and Luis Arraez, Venezuela produced three consecutive two-out RBI singles in the seventh inning to overturn a late deficit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":14988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3672,16209,16210,16211,16204,16207,16208,16203,16206,16202,16205],"class_list":["post-14982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-amat","tag-baseball-global-growth-italy","tag-eduardo-rodriguez-starting-pitcher","tag-international-baseball-championship","tag-italy-baseball-team-historic-run","tag-luis-arraez-rbi","tag-maikel-garcia-clutch-hit","tag-ronald-acuna-jr-performance","tag-venezuela-vs-usa-final","tag-venezuela-world-baseball-classic-final","tag-wbc-2026-semifinal-result"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}