The Chicago Cubs won’t play a meaningful game until early April, but clearly their winning ways rubbed off on one of their prospects as he was a late-inning hero for Italy on Thursday night.
That prospect is outfielder John Andreoli, who is representing Italy in the World Baseball Classic. Going into the bottom of the ninth inning, Italy trailed Mexico 9-5 before a raucous crowd, but the Italians were bound and determined to spoil the party.
After Brandon Nimmo drove in a run to make it a 9-8 game, Andreoli stepped up to the plate and slashed a shot at Mexican second baseman Luis Urias. The ball skipped off the artificial turf, bounced past Urias, and two runs scored to give Italy an improbable victory: [[415859863, C]]
The victory gives Italy a leg up in Group D play, as it puts them in the driver’s seat to potentially secure a bid into the second round of the tournament. Meanwhile, Mexico is put into a tough spot, as they’ll likely have to beat both Puerto Rico (and Cubs star Javier Baez) and Venezuela to move into the next round.
