The Italian baseball national team made history late on Tuesday by beating a star-studded United States team 8-6 in Houston in a Pool B match at the World Baseball Classic.
    "This is one of the best days of my life," said Team Italy manager Francisco Cervelli after the Azzurri's first win over the USA at this level.
    "I'm proud of my guys.
    "They're young, but they play like they've been in the big leagues for 10 years.

"Their focus was there.
    "And you know, everybody in Italy should see this.
    "We're doing it for them, for the kids.

It can happen. It's possible".
    The defeat means the US team featuring many Major League Baseball stars risks exiting the competition at the pool stage.
    Italy are top with three wins out of three and will progress to the next stage if they beat Mexico in their final pool match on Wednesday.
    A victory for Italy would see the USA, who have played all their pool games, qualify too.
    But victory for Mexico would see three teams finishing the group with a 3-1 record, so the two teams to qualify would be determined by a complex tiebreaker system based on runs allowed per defensive outs.
   

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