After Team Italy upset Team USA on Tuesday night, all eyes turned to Italy's matchup on Wednesday.
A Mexico vs. Italy matchup held the fate of the vaunted Team USA in its hands. Who else would be on the mound for Italy?
The Phillies' Aaron Nola.
Nola, now 32 years old, joined Team Italy to play in his first World Baseball Classic. Nola has Italian connections through his great-grandparents, who hailed from Nola, Italy, outside of Naples. His first start of the WBC came under the brightest lights: a chance to advance to the Quarterfinals.
Also on the line was the future of Team USA. If the Italians won, USA would advance. Nola would start the game by striking out former All-Stars Jarren Duran and Randy Arozarena. His sinker topped out at 94.5 MPH.
His teammate for the WBC, Vinny Pasquantino, opened up the scoring for Italy with a solo homer to right. Surprisingly, it was his first hit of the tournament. Pitching with a lead, Nola kept things rolling for Italy.
In the second, he struck out former IronPig Joey Meneses and induced a double play off the bat of Nick Gonzalez. In the third, he got Diamondback Alek Thomas looking on a high sinker at 93.7 MPH.
Jon Berti added a solo homer for Italy in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the inning, Nola struck out Arozarena for the second time. Italy piled on three runs in the fifth inning. One of which was a bunt hit by Phillies prospect Dante Nori.
Nola entered the fifth inning knowing it would be his last.
In pool play of the WBC, pitchers are limited to 65 pitches (unless in the middle of an at-bat). With one out and 64 pitches, Nola walked Gonzalez. Thomas came to the plate as Nola's final hitter. In the middle of the at-bat, backup catcher J.J. D'Orazio threw out Gonzalez for the second out.
Nola retired Thomas on a grounder to second base, recording five shutout innings in a high-pressure game.
He became just the second pitcher in the tournament to throw five innings without allowing a run. The other was the KBO's Ariel Jurado for Team Panama against Team Puerto Rico.
Nola recorded the win as Italy won 9-1. Team Captain Vinny Pasquantino had the first three-homer game in WBC history.
