March 11, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Italian first baseman Vinny Pasquantino (9) hit a home run in the 6th inning against Mexico at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Image Vinny Pasquantino hit three home runs for the first time in the 20-year history of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), and Italy topped Group B with a 9-1 win over Mexico in Houston on Wednesday, helping the United States advance.
Pasquantino, who was 0-for-12, went deep to lead off the second, sixth and eighth innings and got three celebratory espresso shots.
Italy’s Jon Berti also hit a home run in the fourth inning to take the lead (4-0), and Italy had 10 hits to join the United States (3-1) and advance to the quarterfinals. Italy faces Pool A second-place team Puerto Rico (3-1) on Saturday, while the United States faces Pool A first-place team Canada (3-1) on Friday.
Jakob Marsee had a two-run single, Andrew Fischer had an RBI double and Jac Caglianone scored on Dante Nori’s sacrifice bunt in the fifth for Italy.
Aaron Nola allowed four hits and struck out five batters over five innings as Italy eliminated Mexico (2-2) from the tournament.
Pasquantino sent Chicago Cubs pitcher Javier Assad’s cutter just over the right field fence to score the first goal, 0-1.
But Pasquantino wasn’t done yet. The Kansas City Royals’ slugger sent Daniel Duarte’s slider inside the right field foul pole in the top of the sixth inning to give Italy a 6-0 lead. He then completed a hat trick by knocking down Robert Garcia’s slider to make it 3-2 in the 8th inning.
Berti gave Italy a 2-0 lead in the top of the 4th inning when Assad’s fastball went over the left-center wall.
Caglianone walked in the fifth and promptly stole second base. The Royals outfielder advanced to third on JJ D’Orazio’s single to left field and came back to score on Nori’s bunt.
Italy extended its lead to 5-0 after the Miami Marlins’ Marsee hit a hit to right field off both D’Orazio and Nori.
Sam Antonacci singled from first base in the seventh inning after Mexican center fielder Alec Thomas failed to clear Bertie’s hit.
Mexico got a hit from pitcher Joey Meneses on Thomas’ weak grounder at first base in the top of the seventh inning.
–Field level media
