After starting pitcher Keider Montero gave up two runs on two hits with three walks through just 1.1 innings, the Venezuelan bullpen would toss 7.2 shutout innings, giving up just three hits and one walk with eight strikeouts.
Six players would record at least one hit for Venezuela as they finished with eight on the game, while Italy finished with just five, two of which came from Zach Dezenzo.
Their road to the final comes after they upset the reigning champions in Team Japan (recap here), who were the favorites on their side of the bracket, and now they have ended Italy's Cinderella run.
The 2026 World Baseball Classic championship will take place on Tuesday, March 17th, where Venezuela will take on the United States, who advanced to their third straight WBC title game after defeating the Dominican Republic 2-1 (recap here).
Recap and highlights
Italy starting pitcher Aaron Nola got out of the top of the fifth inning on just eight pitches. After forcing MLB superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. to line out, he would give up a bunt single to Maikel Garcia for the first base runner of the game.
But the highlights would already begin after Luis Arraez lined out to centerfielder Jakob Marsee, who launched a canon to first base to double up Garcia to end the inning.
Montero would send the Italian bats down 1-2-3 with ease in the bottom of the first, but his teammates would get nothing done in the top half of the second inning, going down on four batters with just a Gleyber Torres single.
Italy would be the one to get on the scoreboard first in the bottom half of the inning. Vinnie Pasquantino would start off with a groundout. After a Dezenzo single, Montero would walk Jac Caglianone and Andrew Fischer to load the bases with only one out.
Following a mound visit, Montero would walk J.J. D'Orazio to bring home Dezenzo from third to make it 1-0.
Ricardo Sanchez would replace Montero on the mound and immediately trade an out for a run after Dante Nori hit a grounder for a force out, leaving runs at second and third with two away, making it 2-0.
Nori would steal a base to put runners on second and third, but Sanchez would force Sam Antonacci into a groundout to end the second inning and minimize any further damage.
In the third, it was almost a 1-2-3 inning for both teams outside of a Pasquantino walk for Italy. It wasn't until the top of the fourth that Venezuela would finally get on the board.
Eugenio Suarez launched a solo home run, his second of the WBC, to deep left field to cut the lead in half as Italy led 2-1 by the end of the fourth inning.
The bats for both teams would officially go quiet once more as neither team recorded a hit in the fifth inning. Since walking William Contreras in the top of the fifth, Italy pitcher Michael Lorenzen, the starting pitcher in the USA upset game, retired six straight batters, including a 1-2-3 top-half of the sixth inning on just eight pitches.
In the bottom half, Angel Zerpa would replace Luinder Avila on the mound. After loading up the bases, Zerpa would get himself out of a jam by striking out Sam Antonacci to keep it 2-1.
Entering the seventh, Lorenzen would walk Torres to put the tying run on first with no outs. He would strike out Abreu and Contreras, but Jackson Chourio would pull off a perfect hit-and-run to advance Torres to third, putting runners on the corners with two away.
Acuna would step into the box, going 0-for-3 on the night up to that point. He would hit a hard grounder to Antonacci at short, bringing in the run on an infield single on the first pitch of the at-bat to make 2-2.
But the clutch hitting wouldn't stop...
With runners on first and second, Garcia, the first base runner of the game, would bring home Chourio from second and advance Acuna over to third with an RBI single, putting Venezuela up 3-2.
It would be Venezuela's first lead of the game and it took seven innings to finally get there.
Then Venezuela's star continued to show why he could eventually go on to be the team's MVP of the tournament as Luis Arraez brought in Acuna from third on a single to make it 4-2.
Lorenzen's night would officially come to an end after that, going 2.2 innings, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts.
Kyle Nicolas would come into the game for Lorenzen and immediately get Suarez on a flyout to center.
Eduard Bazardo would take the mound for Zerpa and send the Italians down in a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh inning.
Nicolas would do the same to Venezuela in the top of the eighth, striking out Andres Gimenez and Wilyer Abreu after forcing an Ezequiel Tovar fly out.
Andres Machado replaced Bazardo to start the bottom of the eighth and put Italy down on a 1-2-3 in nine pitches with three strikes, including two strikeouts on Caglianone and Fischer.
Daniel Palencia would come in to close things out for Venezuela, forcing pinch hitter Brayan Rocchio to pop out, Nori with a strikeout, and Antonacci down on the same.