They would hold off a late-game rally from the USA, who scored all of their six runs in the final four innings of play. Four of Italy's 10 batters would be the only ones to record hits, totaling six on the night, with Jac Caglianone (Kansas City Royals) and Kyle Teel (Chicago White Sox) leading the way with two each.
With all four of their Pool games played, the U.S. will have to await their fate.
If Mexico defeats Italy in their matchup on March 11th, the U.S. will officially be knocked out of the tournament before even making it to the second round. However, if Mexico wins scoring five or more runs, the United States will advance based on runs allowed totals.
The win would be Italy's biggest in their country's history.
Recap and highlights
After neither team got anything going in the first inning, Italy began their dominance in the following inning with a pair of home runs.
The first came from Teel to make it 1-0. After Caglianone (Kansas City Royals) got on base after being hit by a pitch, Sam Antonacci would quickly turn the score to 3-0 after a two-run home run.
After the U.S. failed to get anything done in the bottom of the second and third innings to close the gap, Italy decided to jump on the opportunity to extend their lead even further in the top of the fourth.
The U.S. made a pitching change, bringing in Ryan Yarbrough for starter Nolan McLean, who proceeded to give up a walk to Teel. Yarbrough was a last-second replacement pitcher for All-Star Joe Ryan (Minnesota Twins).
Then came Caglianone, who decided to join in on the home run party as well to make it 5-0.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Italy would finally make their first pitching change, taking out starter Michael Lorenzen. The veteran MLB pitcher tossed 4.2 shutout innings, giving up just two hits and one walk with two strikeouts in his first start of the WBC.
Dan Altavilla would come in for relief and proceed to strikeout Pete Crow-Armstrong. Then, Italy would find their way on the scoreboard once again after Brad Keller came in for Yarbrough on the mound.
After walking Caglianone as the first batter he faced, putting runners on first and second with one out. Sam Antonacci would reach base on a fielder's choice after Keller made a throwing error, allowing J.J. D'Orazio (pinch-runner for Teel on second) to score, making it 6-0.
One batter later, Italy's Dante Nori would hit a sac-fly to make it 7-0 before yet another error from Keller, throwing a wild pitch, that scored Sam Antonacci to make it 8-0.
After enduring a three-run top-half of the sixth inning, the Americans would finally begin to show some life.
In who is their hottest bat, Gunnar Henderson launched a solo home run to deep right field to cut the lead to 8-1 in the bottom of the sixth off Altavilla.
The Italian reliever's night would end shortly after getting Aaron Judge out, right after as Joe La Sorsa entered the game.
After La Sora gave up a single to veteran MLB All-Star Paul Goldschmidt, Italy made another pitching change, bringing in Alek Jacob...and that's when the Americans began to rally.
Brice Turang would hit a double that would put him and Goldschmidt on second and third with two outs.
Then, Crow-Armstrong would launch his first home run of the World Baseball Classic to slash the lead in half 8-4 in the bottom of the seventh.
In the top of the eighth inning, Italy would load the bases with one out, but relief pitcher David Bednar would get himself out of his own jam, forcing a strikeout and a groundout.
After the Americans got on with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Roman Anthony would hit an RBI single, putting runners on the corners to make it an 8-5 game, with Bryce Harper as the tying run up to bat.
But Italy's Ron Marinaccio would force Harper to fly out to left-center to end the inning, stopping any further damage. American closer Mason Miller would make quick work of Italy in a 1-2-3 inning to give his teammates one last chance to rally for a win.
Crow-Armstrong would go yard again to cut the lead to 8-6 in the bottom of the ninth with a one-out blast, his second of the game, to make it 8-6.
Bobby Witt Jr. would single with one out, leaving Henderson as the tying run up to bat. But after Greg Weissert came on in relief, he would strikeout Henderson, leaving it to team captain Aaron Judge to get it done.
Weissert would get ahead on Judge 0-2 on two pitches, before being squeezed on the third for ball one. Then, on the fourth, he caught Judge swinging, effectively ending the game to give Italy their biggest win ever.