Haarlem, Netherlands – For five innings, Curaçao matched the hottest team in Haarlem pitch for pitch. Then the sixth inning swallowed them whole.
Italy batted around, hung nine runs on a defense that came apart at the seams, and turned a tie game into an 11-3 rout at Pim Mulier Stadion on Monday night — staying perfect at 3-0 and dropping Curaçao to 1-2.
It didn’t come on a barrage of barrels. Like if an espresso had a romantic explosion. It came on a defense unraveling in real time: throwing errors, a passed ball, runs crossing on miscues as much as on contact. Eleven Italians came to the plate in the frame. By the time it ended, a 2-2 game was a nine-run canyon. Miguel Eduardo Fabrizio‘s two-run double to right-center was the loudest swing of the night; Nathanael Batista drove in a pair of his own.
How to Watch Italy vs. Curaçao at Honkbalweek Haarlem 2026: Start Time, Live Stream, What’s at Stake
Curaçao starter Siamani Boekhoudt and Italy’s Javier José Fandiño Hidalgo had kept it knotted at 2-2 into the sixth — this was a game until it suddenly wasn’t. Omar Benelli was the arm that bridged it, two scoreless out of the bullpen with three strikeouts, and the pitcher of record when Italy seized the lead for good.
The bat to fear belongs to Alberto Mineo. Italy’s catcher went 3-for-4 and is now hitting an absurd .667 for the week — the kind of heater that wins a team a tournament. Gabriele Angioi added three more hits atop the order. Italy piled up 14 and made it look like batting practice.
“For me, the important thing is the squad winning,” Angioi said, waving off his own line. “My performance is good — but the squad winning, that’s the most important.” On Federico Celli lighting the sixth-inning fuse, he grinned: “He helps the team always. Attack, attack, attack — every day, everywhere.”
For Curaçao, the box score stings worse than the night did. This is an island that exports big leaguers the way bigger nations export oil — the bloodline that gave the majors Andruw Jones, Kenley Jansen and Ozzie Albies runs straight through rosters like this one. The talent is real. The gloves, on this night, were not: three errors, a passed ball, and an inning that got away before anyone could stop it. There was even a rarity earlier — Ericson Leonora rung up for interference with the catcher to end the third, snuffing the rally just after Curaçao had drawn even.
