Playing in front of a home crowd in Barcelona -- at the training grounds from the 1992 Olympic Games, the first where baseball was a medal sport -- Spain took care of business at the 2027 Premier12 Qualifiers. They now advance to the tournament for the first time in national team history as the first-place finishers, with Italy also advancing from the Barcelona group. They'll join the top 12 teams as ranked by the WBSC -- who automatically qualified -- and two more teams from next month's qualifier in Zhongshan, China.
With a veteran roster led by former big leaguer Luis Guillorme, Spain outlasted Germany to win its opening contest on Friday night. Royals Minor League catcher Omar Hernández tied the game with a two-out, two-run single in the eighth, forcing the game to extras. That set up Guillorme as the winning run, the former Mets infielder scampering home on a wild pitch for the ten-inning victory.
"These games can turn someone not interested in our sport into a baseball fan," Spain manager Marvin Benard told the WBSC.
Spain then defeated Italy, the reigning European Baseball Championship silver medalist, on Saturday evening to confirm their place in next year's tournament and make Sunday's finale against Colombia a non-factor. Pitcher José Gómez threw five shutout innings and former Cubs prospect Félix Stevens -- who had a 20/20 season in just 84 games in the Frontier League this past summer -- drove in three for the victory.
"When I saw the ball go beyond their first baseman, I felt super happy," Stevens said. "I was confident it would be the game. I'm proud to represent Spain. It's one of the best experiences of my baseball life. Now we want to make history."
With Spain's victory eliminating Colombia from contention, that set up Sunday's Italy vs. Germany contest as a win-and-in playoff. Francisco Cervelli's azzurri made it look easy: Blue Jays prospect Giacomo Taschin tossed four shutout innings, striking out seven, and five relievers finished off the shutout in a 5-0 victory. Every starter in Italy's lineup recorded at least one hit to help send the nation back to the Premier12 for the first time since 2015.
While Colombia's performance as qualifier favorites was underwhelming, the outcome is a sign of where these European programs are going. Spain has been on the cusp for a few years now: They won the 2023 European Baseball Championship -- their first title since 1955 -- and were just one victory away from reaching the last two World Baseball Classic tournaments, but lost in the final game each time. (The Czechs in 2022, Chinese Taipei last year.)
Italy has looked rejuvenated under Cervelli, who lives and coaches in the country for much of the year. It won the silver medal in last year's Euros and reached the World Baseball Classic semifinals in the spring, sparking fan interest across the country and even getting some recognition from Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
While the World Baseball Classic is the game's global championship, the Premier12 is the tournament that many developing baseball programs have looked at as the standard for being considered a truly competitive baseball nation. The importance doesn't stop there: Next year's tournament will also be an Olympic qualifier, sending the top performing Asian team and top European or Oceanic team to the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Spain and Italy will now compete with Australia and the Netherlands for that Olympic place. The USA has already qualified as the host nation, while the Dominican Republic and Venezuela qualified from their performance at this spring's Classic.
China, Czechia, Great Britain and Nicaragua will now battle for the final two spots in the new-look Premier12 field from Nov. 26-28 next month.