Celli Hits First Money Ball Grand Slam In Baseball United History To Give Mid East The Victory Over Arabia

DUBAI, UAE (December 6, 2025) – Federico Celli hit the first Moneyball Grand Slam in Baseball United’s history, accounting for eight runs, to give the Mid East Falcons a 9-5 victory over the Arabia Wolves, in game 1 of today’s doubleheader.

Facing Blake Purnell, with two balls and one strike count, Celli blasted Purnell’s fastball to the opposite fence. Celli had a 3-for-1 game with a Money Ball HR, two runs scored, one walk and eight RBIs.

Along with Celli, Munenori Kawasaki and Shuhei Fukuda went 2-for-3 with two runs scored each, and Hiroyuki Nakajima went 3-for-4.

Shuto Sakurai earned the victory after 4.0 innings, in which he allowed three hits, two runs, one of them earned, gave one walk and struck out two. Shingo Hirata (2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 SO), Kodai Hamaya (0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 ER, 2 BB) and Severino González (1 H, 0 ER) completed the pitching line for Mid East.

With this result, both teams are temporarily tied for second place in the standings (4-3). The winner of this series secures a place in the United Series.

Other highlights:

• Jacob Teter went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, as the standout man in the Wolves offense.
• Blake Purnell took the loss, after 1.0 IP, where he allowed four hits (including Money Ball Grand Slam) and eight earned runs.
• Arabia’s bullpen only took one run and five hits the rest of the game (Wilton Castillo 2 H, 1 ER, Quinn Waterhouse, 2.0, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 SO), and Joseph Pence (0 ER, 2 SO).