Venezuela comes from behind to beat Italy, earn WBC final spot vs Team USA

Team USA has its opponent for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) final on Tuesday night.

Venezuela ended Italy’s magical WBC run on Monday night, coming from behind to defeat them, 4-2 at loanDepot park, earning a spot in the final against the United States.

Italy was the surprise team of the tournament, taking down the U.S.

in pool play before defeating Mexico to finish a perfect 4-0 in Pool B.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
But that win over Mexico also kept Team USA alive in the tournament, allowing them to advance to the quarterfinals, where they defeated Canada before earning a thrilling 2-1 semifinal victory over the Dominican Republic on Sunday night to punch their ticket back to the final.

While it felt only right for the U.S.

and Italy to meet once more to determine who would win it all before the start of the 2026 MLB season, Venezuela had other things in mind during the bottom of the seventh inning.

Down 2-1 in the contest, Venezuela found themselves threatening with a potential two-out rally after Jackson Chourio, the Milwaukee Brewers’ rising star, singled to center field, allowing Andres Gimenez to advance to third base.

That’s when Ronald Acuña Jr., the face of Venezuelan baseball, reached first on an infield single that allowed Gimenez to score, tying the game at two apiece.

But the rally wasn’t over just yet.

From there, Italy could never get a rally started, as Daniel Palencia eventually shut the door in the ninth inning, striking out the final two Italian hitters.

But it’s Venezuela, ripe with top MLB talent, ready to take on Team USA and starter Nolan McLean, who Italy touched up in their pool play game, on Tuesday night to determine who holds the rights to call themselves the best baseball team in the world for at least the next three years.

Team USA and Venezuela will face each other at 8 p.m.

ET on FOX.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.