1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
CBA Marucci National	4	0	0	1	0	3	8	10	1
Easton Prime Red	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0

Win: Mario Bejarano Loss: Shaun Cottrell

Box Score | Play-by-Play | Cumulative Stats

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Team Utah 2022	0	4	5	0	0	0	3	12	10	0
GBG Navy 2022	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	6	4

Win: Luke Anderson Loss: Luke Fogarty

Box Score | Play-by-Play | Cumulative Stats

PHOENIX — CBA Marucci National and Team Utah 2022 advanced to the gold-medal game at the 17U National Team Championships Arizona with a pair of wins in their respective quarterfinal and semifinal matches Monday at Peoria Sports Complex.

CBA Marucci National returns to the championship game after it placed second at the 2019 17U tournament, while Team Utah 2022's squad, which captured silver at the 2019 15U event, will look to build off their experience in the title game.

Semifinal — CBA Marucci National 8, Easton Prime Red 0

Mario Bejarano's six-inning two-hitter guided CBA Marucci National to the championship game of the 17U National Team Championships Arizona with an 8-0 win against Easton Prime Red.

Bejarano kept Easton Prime off-balance throughout the game and struck out five batters in the win. He retired the first 11 batters he faced and received plenty of support from his lineup, which produced four first-inning runs with two outs in the frame.

Following a pair of groundouts to begin the game, CBA recorded five consecutive singles to jump on top. Run-scoring base knocks from Maddox Haley, Brady Reynolds and TJ Adams made it a 3-0 game, and a steal of home by Reynolds extended the early lead.

Easton Prime remained within striking distance, however, and threatened to break the shutout in the fifth when Eric Bitonti doubled to right and Jesse Alfaro walked with two outs. But Bejarano, who threw 71 percent of his pitches for strikes, induced a soft fly ball to center to end the inning.

The strong performance marked Bejarano's second outing on the mound for CBA at the 2021 17U National Team Championships Arizona. The southpaw also tossed three innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts in CBA's 4-2 win against Team Kado Hawaii on Thursday.

CBA Marucci National (8-0) will await Team Utah 2022 (7-1) in Tuesday's gold-medal game, which is set for a 9 a.m. MT first pitch at Peoria Sports Complex.

Semifinal — Team Utah 2022 12, GBG Navy 2022 3

Team Utah 2022 used a 12-run, 10-hit attack to power past GBG Navy 2022 by a 12-3 final in the second semifinal game Monday.

Eight players recorded at least one hit for Utah, whose same group of players reached the championship game two years ago at the 15U National Team Championships Arizona.

After GBG Navy tallied the first run of the game courtesy of a sacrifice fly from Finley Buckner, Team Utah responded with four runs of their own in the second and five more in the third to take a commanding 9-1 advantage.

Rylan Evans sent a single to center to give Team Utah its first lead of the game and Isaac Lyon plated a pair to make it 4-1. Utah then took advantage of a hit-by-pitch, wild pitch, two walks and one error in the third to grow its lead.

GBG Navy fought back with two runs in the third thanks to RBI-singles off the bats of Nico Bhattachan and Luca DiPaolo, but it proved to be too little, too late, as Utah reliever Luke Anderson allowed just one hit the rest of the way to close out the win.

Team Utah 2022 (7-1) is set to square off against undefeated CBA Marucci National (8-0) in the gold-medal game at the 17U National Team Championships. First pitch is scheduled for 9 a.m. MT on Tuesday at Peoria Sports Complex.

Key Moments (CBA Marucci National vs. Easton Prime Red)

• Five consecutive two-out hits by CBA's Cutter Coffey, Andrew Walters, Maddox Haley, Brady Reynolds and TJ Adams helped the team put runs on the board in the opening frame.
• TJ Adams' (CBA) sacrifice fly extended CBA's lead to 5-0 in the fourth.
• Eric Bitonti (Easton Prime) sparked a brief two-out rally for Easton Prime Red with a double to right in the fifth inning.
• Consecutive run-scoring doubles off the bats of Brady Reynolds (CBA) and TJ Adams brought CBA Marucci National's lead to 8-0 in the sixth.

Key Moments (Team Utah 2022 vs. GBG Navy 2022)

• Finley Buckner (GBG) plated the game's first run when he delivered a sacrifice fly to plate Connor Meidroth in the bottom of the first.
• Team Utah 2022 used four hits and one error in the second to take a 4-1 lead. Ryan Evans' RBI-single gave the team its first advantage of the game and Isaac Lyon plated a pair with single up the middle.
• Team Utah 2022 extended its lead to 9-1 by taking advantage of a hit-by-pitch, wild pitch, two walks and one error in the third.
• Run-scoring base hits from Nico Bhattachan (GBG) and Luca DiPaolo put GBG Navy 2022 on the comeback trail.
• Luke Anderson (Utah) sealed the semifinal win with a 1-2-3 seventh inning, which included a strikeout of the final batter.

 

Notable Information

• "I'm proud of the guys and the way they played and the way they've fought through adversity. We come out here to win and these guys are doing a great job of that." — CBA Marucci National head coach Jon Paino
• "I think when (Mario Bejarano) is up on the mound he knows he's in complete control. Today he threw all of his pitches for strikes in any count and any time you do that you're going to be successful." — CBA Marucci National head coach Jon Paino
• "We started off slow at the beginning of the tournament, but we're finally starting to hit our groove. Our pitching's been really good and now our bats are starting to come along, too. We're excited." — Team Utah 2022 head coach Brandon Turley 
• "A lot of these guys having been playing together since they were 10 years old, and that continuity and playing for each other goes a long way." — Team Utah 2022 head coach Brandon Turley

 

Social

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