PHOENIX — TB SoCal Evo and Juggernaut Baseball Texas secured their place in the gold-medal game at the 17U National Team Championships Arizona with two wins on Saturday.

Both teams will square off with a gold medal on the line Sunday at Peoria Sports Complex (Main Stadium) as first pitch is set for 9 a.m. MT.

Semifinal — TB SoCal Evo 4, Diablo Valley Baseball Club 0

The No. 1 seed for a reason, TB SoCal Evo’s pitching staff combined to shutout the Diablo Valley Baseball Club, 4-0, and clinch its spot in the championship game.

Andrew Miehe started the game for TB SoCal Evo and went five innings strong, only allowing three hits on the afternoon. Jordan Cole came in to shut the door, keeping the lead and shutout intact for the defending champions.

Two wild pitches in the bottom of the second frame put TB SoCal Evo ahead 2-0 for the game’s first runs. Later in the fifth inning they added two more after a dropped-third strike and an RBI single from Blake Wilson extended the lead to four.

Diablo Valley Baseball Club struggled to get anything going offensively after they defeated 3D Gold earlier in the morning 6-2 to advance to the semifinals. They only got two runners in scoring position all game and managed just four hits on the contest.

TB SoCal is the only unbeaten team remaining in the tournament, outscoring their opponents 59-9 over their eight games. As a team, they boast an ERA under one and have a batting average north of .350 with 24 extra-base hits.

Semifinal — Juggernaut Baseball Texas 2, Zoots Baseball Club Black 1

A sacrifice fly from Nikolas Miller pushed Juggernaut Baseball Texas to the gold-medal game at the 17U National Team Championships Arizona with a close 2-1 semifinal win against Zoots Baseball Club Black.

After going scoreless for the first four innings, Zoots Baseball finally pushed across a run after a walk and an RBI triple from Anthony Scheppler made it a 1-0 ballgame. Juggernaut Baseball responded with a run of their own in the bottom half after a sacrifice fly from Jimmyll Williams tied the game at one.

It was foreshadowing what was to come later in the game, as both teams entered the seventh knotted at one. With Zoots Baseball going down quietly in the top half of the seventh, Juggernaut Baseball quickly loaded up the bases with one out.

Miller was the hero, driving across the winning run on a bullet to center field which allowed Jose Fernandez to easily score the deciding run. It was Miller’s third RBI of the tournament, with this one being the biggest as he sent Juggernaut Baseball on to the gold-medal game.

It was a pitcher’s duel throughout as both teams combined for just five hits and three runs. Juggernaut Baseball lowered its team ERA to 1.24 on the tournament, as Sunday’s matchup figures to be a low-scoring contest.

Dugout Chatter

• "It’s exciting to be back here after winning it last year and watching kids step up now is awesome to see. We’re going to come out and compete tomorrow and hopefully bring back another championship.”  — TB SoCal Evo head coach Benny Bonilla
• "I’m so proud of our guys after working together to pull off a win like that against a really tough team. They play as a unit and are hard to beat when working together and hopefully tomorrow we can get the job done. " — Juggernaut Baseball Texas head coach Keith Harwood.

On Deck

• TB SoCal Evo (8-0), the No. 1 seed, will face Juggernaut Baseball Texas (7-1), the 10th seed, in the gold-medal game of the 17U National Team Championships Arizona at 9 a.m. MT at Peoria Sports Complex (Main Stadium).
• Diablo Valley Baseball Club (6-2) and Zoots Baseball Club Black (6-2) will square off for bronze at 9 a.m. MT at Peoria Sports Complex (Padres 6).

Social

• Stay tuned to @USABChamps_AZ on Twitter for the most up-to-date news about the National Team Championships Arizona.