Categories: Baseball

Venezuela vs. Italy World Baseball Classic: Starters, Lineups, How To Watch

Italy continues its unlikely run at the World Baseball Classic and will next take on Venezuela in Monday’s semifinal game. The Venezuelans are having their own storybook run after eliminating Shohei Ohtani and defending WBC champions Japan in the quarterfinals.

Next up is a spot in the final.

The game will be Monday, March 16 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

How to Watch the 2026 World Baseball Classic

FOX is your exclusive home to the WBC with games spread across the FOX family of networks.

The Italy vs. Venezuela semifinal is on FS1 on Monday (8 p.m. ET). The Championship Game will be on FOX on Tuesday, March 17 (8 p.m. ET).

All games will be available for streaming on the FOX Sports app and FOX One. Catch the action on the following streaming options:

FOXSports.com and FOX Sports app
FOX One

Italy Lineups, Pitchers

Aaron Nola will start Monday night’s World Baseball Classic semifinal for Italy against Venezuela rather than Michael Lorenzen.

Italy manager Francisco Cervelli said he made the decision Sunday but waited until Monday to make the announcement.

“My reason was my gut,” he said. “Everyone is available, but I think Nola is the right person. That’s my opinion, and I’m taking responsibility for my decisions.”

A 32-year-old right-hander, Nola got the win in the group stage finale against Mexico on March 11. He allowed four hits over five scoreless innings with five strikeouts and one walk, throwing 69 pitches.

Italy has the second most home runs (12) at the tournament behind the Dominican Republic’s tournament record of 15 dingers. Leading the way is the heart and soul of this Italian squad, Vinnie Pasquatino. The Royals first baseman has three homers (all against Mexico in the pool play win). A trio of Italian players (Dominic Canzone, Andrew Fischer, and Dante Nori) have five RBI each. Nori leads the team with .438 batting average.

Venezuela Lineups, Pitchers

Keider Montero, a 25-year-old right-hander, pitched three scoreless innings of relief on Monday in a 4-0 first-round win over Nicaragua.

He made his big league debut on May 29, 2024, and was 5-3 with a 4.37 ERA in 12 starts and eight relief appearances last year for Detroit during a season in which he was optioned to Triple-A Toledo six times. Monero was 4-4 with a 5.91 ERA in eight starts and two relief appearances for the Mud Hens.

Luis Arráez has been a hitting machine for Venezuela. The Padres star has two home runs and nine RBI with a solid .368 batting average. Maikel Garcia and Ronald Acuña Jr. had homers in the win against Japan, as did Wilyer Abreu who hit the definitive three-run homer that sealed the win over Japan.