San Marino Baseball has kicked off the 2026 Italian Baseball Series in the best possible way. The Titans claimed game 1 on Parma Clima’s home diamond, winning 5-3 at the Nino Cavalli, in a match they led from the very first inning and sealed with a decisive surge in the seventh.
San Marino got off to a fast start. Wong and Angulo hit back-to-back singles, and a missed ball allowed the first run to score, making it 0-1. Parma tried to respond immediately in the bottom of the inning, but Francisco Sanchez managed to wriggle out of a tricky spot. San Marino’s starter went on to become one of the night’s standout performers, finishing his outing with 10 strikeouts across 6.1 innings pitched and no earned runs allowed.
The score held at the minimum advantage for six innings. In the sixth, San Marino came close to doubling the lead thanks to Rifaela, who hit a double, but couldn’t bring the runner home.
The turning point came in the seventh. With two outs already recorded, Diaz reached base with a hit, Di Fabio and Wong both drew walks, and Angulo delivered a single that brought home two runs. Moments later, Rifaela struck again with a double that plated another two runs: in the space of a few minutes, San Marino had pulled away to a 5-0 lead.
Parma refused to give up. In the eighth, Flisi cut the gap with a home run, while in the ninth Geraldo hit a two-run homer that brought the home side back to 3-5. But the Parma comeback stopped there: Mineo lifted a fly ball that Guevara tracked down for the final out.
San Marino thus won 5-3 and moved ahead in the Italian Baseball Series, launching its title bid with a valuable away victory. Among the standout performers were also Angulo and Rifaela, both decisive in the four-run seventh-inning breakthrough.
