The Italian American Baseball Foundation (IABF) hosted its first Bay Area Collegiate Games in April. Underscoring the mission of IABF, this international showcase brought players from Italy to compete against colleges on the west coast in hopes of landing scholarships and growing the cultural connection between both countries in the spirit of baseball.

Special thank you to Holy Names University, San Jose State University, Sonoma State University, San Francisco State University and the University of San Francisco for hosting the IABF All-Stars. IABF is hopeful that players who participated on the All-Star team will receive scholarship consideration from some of the host colleges, which is the ultimate goal of the endeavor.

Players and coaches convened at the College of San Mateo before embarking on the week-long journey. They also spent time at an Oakland Athletics game connecting with Steve Fanelli, Vice President of Business Operations for the A’s and assistant coach Mark Aldrete and visited the resting place of the iconic Joe DiMaggio.

IABF All-Star manager Gibo Gerali was joined by coaches Rob Biagini and Matt Brown.

IABF All-Stars, their coaching staff and prominent Bay Area Italian American college baseball coaches Brad San Filippo (San Jose State University), Tony Ragusa (Sonoma State University), Tony Schifano (San Francisco State University), Nino Giarratano (University of San Francisco) and Craig Gianinno (University of San Francisco) were honored at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club on Sunday, April 24. IABF President Joe Quagliano, board trustee Chris Vaccaro and secretary Mark Cardillo presented honors to each person involved with the project.

A very special thank you to Roberto Angotti for coordinating the project with IABF leadership.