Telemarket Rimini tops the list with six of its players having been selected to represent Italy.  IBL regular season champion Parma will send five of its players.  Bologna and Nettuno also had five players chosen by the Marco Mazzieri and his staff.  San Marino and Grossetto each have three players going on to compete for the Azzurri.

No players from Catania or Godo will be representing Team Italy.

Players currently in the farm systems of various Major League Baseball organizations will not be permitted to represent their respective countries in the tournament due to issues with the field standards. 

The Azzurri will use the Italian Baseball Week as a tune-up for the 2010 European Championships.

Just for added bonus, Duran topped the league in base hits and runs scored, but there hasn't yet been a "crown" invented for this feat. 

Other leaders around the IBL include Bologna's Jesus Matos, who finished with a 1.44 ERA. 

Grosseto's Juan Figueroa tallied up the most strikeouts, sending 92 batters back to the bench empty handed.

2010 IBL Final Regular Season Stats

Few would have predicted Parma to capture the regular season title, especially after the Parmagiani's first series encounters with San Marino, Rimini and Bologna.  Parma was clearly outclassed, winning just three of those nine games.  At the conclusion of the first-half of the regular season, Parma managed to stay competitive in the standings due to its manhandling of the IBL's bottom-half, engineering sweeps and taking advantage of Godo, Catania, Nettuno and Grosseto.  

During the second-half, Parma turned up the heat on all opponents, going 16 and 5 down the final stretch. Parma scored series victories over San Marino, Rimini and Bologna, retaliating for first-half series losses against the upper crust.

San Marino actually finished with the same weekly series record as Parma.  San Marino won 11 out of 14 series match-ups, taking at least two out of three games from opponents. The reason why this doesn't reflect in the regular season standings is because the San Marinesi completed less three-game sweeps of their opponents due to troubles with they faced all season with their day-three pitching staff.

Third-place Rimini used three shutouts over Bologna in the last three games of the regular season to capture the final playoff berth and skate past Bologna in the standings. 

Danesi Nettuno was clinging on to a miracle going into the final week of action, but these hopes quickly faded as Nettuno dropped a 10 inning thriller in San Marino to open up its series.  The loss, coupled with the Rimini win, closed the door on its postseason chances.

Scacchiera Catania picked up its first-ever sweep at home versus Montepaschi Grosseto, thus ending the season on a high-note.  The sweep allowed the Sicilians to move out of last-place and past their counterparts from Godo.  It was also Catania's first series victory of the year.

There will now be a pause before the playoffs, as select players of the Italian Baseball League will now head to Novara under Italian national team Head Coach Marco Mazzieri.  The Azzurri will use Novara as a workout center to prepare for the upcoming European Championship, which is set to kick-off July 23rd in Stuttgart, Germany. 

Parma, San Marino and Bologna have all qualified for postseason play and can ease toward the finish line.  But Parma is anxious to sweep bottow-dweller Godo, so that the Parmagiani can hold the regular season title, which is not a recognized honor, but Parma will nonetheless like the unofficial title as regular season champions, if only for pride and its only historical archives.

There is some unfinished business with the Rimini Pirates and Nettuno.  Rimini can gobble up the fourth and final playoff spot tonight with a win and a Nettuno loss. Should Rimini have a breakdown this weekend against Bologna, Nettuno could steal the final playoff berth by finishing the regular season tied with Rimini because Nettuno has the advantage in head-to-head competition.  Rimini won its Week 7 series with Bologna two games to one.

Nettuno will travel to San Marino and need at least two wins at Serravalle Stadium and help from Bologna to advance to the postseason.  Back in Week 7, Nettuno took two of three from San Marino.

Down in Sicily, Catana will host Grosseto at Joe DiMaggio Stadium.

Parma took two out of three this past weekend against Bologna.  The Parmagiani will look to finish the regular season atop the IBL, and only Godo stands in the way of this task.

Rimini will need to maintain a lead in the standings over Nettuno to secure the fourth and final playoff berth.  Rimini dropped a game to last-place Catania Saturday, and now the pressure is on for Rimini to have a successful series against Bologna.  Rimini currently enjoys a two-game advantage over Nettuno; however, Nettuno has the head-to-head advantage over Rimini and will claim the last playoff spot should both teams finish the regular season with identical records.

Nettuno is coming off a series sweep of Godo at home and will have to travel to San Marino in the final week of play.  Nettuno took two out of three from San Marino back in Week 7 and will look for some help from Bologna to swipe the last playoff spot from Rimini at the last minute.

First-place Parma will travel to Bologna tonight, but the final two games of the series will be played in Parma.  Parma's magic number is 1.  Bologna's magic number is 2.

San Marino's magic number is 2.  The San Marinesi will travel to Tuscany to take on Grosseto.  Grosseto hasn't been eliminated from the postseason, but the Orioles will need to play flawless baseball for the remaining six games.

Rimini can almost guarantee a spot in the playoffs with a sweep of Catania.  Rimini's magic number is 4.

Nettuno will look to sweep Godo to maintain its playoff hopes.  Nettuno will also keep an eye on the Rimini - Grosseto series.

Parma halted a hot Nettuno, taking both games contested 12-6 and 5-4.  The rubber match was put back on the shelf due to rain in Parma.  Nettuno has failed to score a victory against the Parmagiani this year.  Parma swept a three-game series back in Week four, but Nettuno had come into Week 11 brimming with confidence from a sweep of Rimini and series win over San Marino. 

At Serravalle Stadium, San Marino took two out of three games from the Rimini Pirates.  San Marino finishes head-to-head competition with Rimini in the regular season, winning four of six. Fourth-place Rimini has now lost five of its last six games and is just two games ahead of Nettuno in the loss column, which has significant value as only the top four teams advance to the postseason.

Bologna rebounded to take the final two games against Grosseto after having been shutout Friday night at Falchi Stadium.  The series loss for Grosseto likely spells the end of its hopes to continue on to the postseason.  

Godo picked up its first, second and third victories at home versus visiting Catania.  Godo set off all the fireworks it had in storage, scoring forty-one runs in the series.  It's the first recorded sweep in which rookie manager Steven Weidner has been on the winning side. 

RIMINI - The Telemarket Rimini Pirates ended their three-game skid, topping rival, and IBL frontrunner, T&A San Marino 3-1 at Pirate Stadium.

The loss for first-place San Marino brings Bologna, Parma and Rimini to within 1 game in the loss column.  Bologna and Parma are currently a half-game back, while Rimini is a full-game behind the San Marinesi.

In Week 4, San Marino took two games out of three from the Pirates. 

The two teams will continue their series tonight over at San Marino's Serravalle Stadium.

In other action opening up around the league, Nettuno will head to Parma, Grosseto will be on the road in Bologna, and Catania will head to the mainland Italy to play Godo. 

NETTUNO -- T&A San Marino and Danesi Nettuno met Tuesday afternoon at Nettuno's Steno Borghese Stadium to recover a couple of games that were postponed due to rain back in Week 7.  Nettuno won the only game that the two team were able to complete back on May 16 before the rain put a stop to action.

Back on the field at Borghese Stadium, Nettuno extended its win streak to seven games after having shutout San Marino 7-0 in the Tuesday afternoon contest, but San Marino managed to stave off a three-game sweep (dating back from May 16) by taking the tail-end of the doubleheader 4-2 to finally conclude the three-game series.

Nettuno will battle Cariparma Parma this weekend, while first-place San Marino will take on rivals Telemarket Rimini for a battle on the Adriatic.

Also on the Week 11 program, Montepaschi Grosseto has lost five out of six and will try to end the skid at UGF Bologna.  De Angelis Godo will host Scacchiera Catania to dispute the penultimate slot in the standings.

T&A San Marino and Danesi Nettuno will meet Tuesday for a doubleheader at Steno Borghese Stadium in Nettuno. 

The Week 7 games were originally scheduled for May 14 and 15, but had to be postponed due to rain. The teams were able, however, to play the first of those three games before the rain spoiled the weekend, a game that Nettuno won 5-4.

Now, first-place San Marino must face a scalding hot Nettuno that is coming off a remarkable three-game sweep of Rimini. 

Nettuno will put its six-game win streak on the line and look to keep nudging up the standings.