Espressos flow once more in big win for Italy to improve to 2-0

HOUSTON -- Make it a double espresso for Team Italy this time.

Italy smacked back-to-back home runs to spark its 7-4 win over Great Britain in Sunday's World Baseball Classic matchup at Daikin Park -- the first by Brewers No. 6 prospect Andrew Fischer in his first WBC at-bat, the second by Angels catching prospect J.J. D'Orazio.

That could only mean one thing: The espresso was flowing in the Italian dugout once again.

Team Italy has brought back its dugout espresso machine from the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and captain Vinnie Pasquantino has turned espresso shots into the team's 2026 WBC home run celebration.

Upon every Italian homer -- and through two WBC games, there have been five of them, as Italy has taken care of business against Britain and Brazil -- Pasquantino is waiting at the end of the dugout with a cup of espresso and kisses on the cheeks for the lucky slugger. (Since the first game, the celebration has gotten even more elaborate, with Italy now adding an Italian blue sport coat for the home run hitter.)

Italy's 2-0 start at the 2026 Classic, powered by the most home runs of any team in its pool, sets up two huge games to close out the Pool B schedule: the first vs. the United States on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, FS1), and the second vs. Mexico on Wednesday (7 p.m., Tubi).

"All these teams are good in this tournament. It's not just them. But it's going to be fun to go against those boys," said Miles Mastrobuoni, who was part of Italy's 2023 WBC run to the quarterfinals. "We're going to give them everything we've got, for sure."

If Italy can beat at least one of the two pool favorites, it will have a strong chance to advance out of pool play for a second straight World Baseball Classic.

"The only way we can beat them is: playing baseball," manager Francisco Cervelli said. "They know that we know that we can play.

"We don't have to do things beautiful -- we just have to score runs and win."

On Sunday, Fischer and D'Orazio looked like they were relishing their home run espresso shots a lot more than their slugging teammates the day before, Dominic Canzone and Dante Nori, who hit three homers between them in Italy's WBC opener against Brazil.

Nori doesn't like coffee (sacrilegious for Team Italy, we know), and Canzone said the dugout Nespresso was dispensing its coffee too hot on Saturday.

But the 21-year-old Fischer -- Milwaukee's first-round Draft pick in 2025, who's playing in his first World Baseball Classic less than a year later -- downed his espresso with gusto after his wallscraper just cleared the right-field fence to put Italy on the board against Great Britain in the third inning.

One at-bat later, so did D'Orazio, after the 24-year-old sent a 403-foot opposite-field shot to right-center to go back-to-back with Fischer.

"Putting the WBC aside, the dream starts with: You want to be a big leaguer, you want to play the game for a long time," Fischer said. "But these opportunities don't come up often. I'm very new to being a pro baseball player. I'm trying to put my name on the map. I think an opportunity like this gives you the chance to do that.

"It's not even just with myself. It's having an opportunity to play with these guys. I was saying, these experiences are priceless. … I think the Brewers even felt the same way. For me to get an opportunity to do this, it would probably be beneficial in their eyes as well."

With back-to-back homers, barista Pasquantino had to work fast, but not to worry. He had a fresh espresso brewed in plenty of time for the second jack.

Fischer, who was already fired up by the time he got back to the Italian dugout after his homer -- so much so that he missed high-fiving Mastrobuoni in the on-deck circle -- probably didn't need any extra caffeine.

"You can imagine, the buildup to playing in this has been pretty emotional. You're representing your family, friends, the country," Fischer said.

"You don't get an at-bat in that first game, which is totally cool -- we've got a stacked squad. I'm a new professional player, like, it makes sense. Then you finally get an at-bat in the next game, and [the emotion] all comes out at once."

Fischer also gave Team Italy the lead for good in his next at-bat an inning later by beating the pitcher to the first-base bag for an RBI infield single.

That espresso energy carried through to the rest of the Team Italy lineup.

After Fischer's go-ahead knock, Mastrobuoni and Nori came through with clutch two-out RBI hits to push Italy's lead to 5-2. And in the fifth inning, Sam Antonacci's hustle turned a triple into a Little League home run after Great Britain threw the ball away trying to nab him at third. (No espresso shot for a Little League home run, though.)

Great Britain did load the bases with two outs in the ninth inning for star slugger Harry Ford, representing the go-ahead run. But Italy closer Greg Weissert got MLB's No. 71 overall prospect to line out to left field to escape the jam and end the game.

Once the win was sealed, it was time to celebrate with another Italian tradition: A bottle of fine wine.

"Winning is hard in this game," Mastrobuoni said. "You've got to celebrate it. We came together as a team and we found a way to celebrate wins. We've been fortunate enough to win the first two here. And that's just a little token of celebration.

"I think if you talk to everybody in this room, the heritage, the traditions, they run deep with all of us."