Parma Baseball Club is a professional baseball team that plays in the Serie A. Founded in 1949, the team is based in the city of Parma in Italy and plays its home games at the Stadio Nino Cavalli. It is currently the second-largest stadium in Italy after Nettuno's Steno Borghese, and along with Bologna's home park, often hosts Italian national team home games.
The club, managed by Gianguido Poma, finished the 2020 season with a 15-11 record, good for 3rd place in Italy, behind Bologna and San Marino. So far in 2021, Parma took home the European Champions Cup in July, their European record 14th title. Parma will play in a modified playoff later this month to determine if they will get the opportunity to defend their title and participate in the 2022 Champions Cup.
One of the most successful clubs in the Italian League, Parma has won 10 IBL championships, as well as 14 European Cup titles, the most in European baseball.
History
2019
Italian national team players Sebastiano Poma (.380, 4 HR, 26 RBI), Aldo Koutsoyanopulos (.317, 1 HR, 11 RBI), Ricardo Paolini (.308, 1 HR, 17 RBI) led the offense. Veterans Charlie Mirabal (.297, 1 HR, 10 RBI) and Luca Scalera (.364, 1 HR, 8 RBI) also made their impact in the lineup. Erly Casanova led the pitching staff with 50.2 IP to go with a 3.02 ERA and 52 K. Marc-Andre Habeck (2.48 ERA, 38 K in 29.0 IP), Owen Ozanich (3.86 ERA, 18 K in 18.2 IP) and Yomel Rivera (4.50 ERA, 24 K in 18.0 IP) were also very steady. Veteran hurler Mauro Schiavoni proved to be an important addition, the right hander from Argentina posted a 0.00 ERA in the regular season, not allowing a single run in 11.1 IP. He also had an impressive 1.93 ERA in the Champions Cup. Parma finished 4th in the week long tournament where the top 8 club teams face off to crown the new European champion. In the event, Casanova and Habeck led the staff with 8.0 innings pitched, Habeck posted the best ERA (1.12), while Ozanich finished with a team high 9 strikeouts in 5.2 IP. Offensively, Koutsoyanopulos hit .421 (8-for-19), Paolini .353 (6-for-17), Mirabal .333 (5-for-15), Poma .313 (5-for-16) and Alex Sambucci .313 (5-for-16).
Parma found themselves in a rematch of the 2018 finals, this time in the semis, against rival Bologna. After shotting out to a 2-0 series lead, Parma lost three straight as Bologna came from behind, not only in the best of five series, but in game five as well. Erly Casanova was Parma's top playoff performer, logging 14.2 innings, allowing just two earned runs (1.23 ERA), walking one batter while striking out 15. Yomel Rivera (5.2 scoreless with 3 K), Junior Oberto (1 ER in 5 IP) and Marc-Andre Habeck (2 ER in 7.1 IP) also pitched well in the series. At the plate, in the playoffs, Ricky Paolini (.381), Rafael Vinales (.375), Stefano Desimoni (.333), and Mattia Mercuri (.300) were the club's .300 hitters. Longtime shortstop Charlie Mirabal injured his shoulder diving for a ball in the hole in Bologna, an injury that sidelined him for the first month of 2020 as well.