SURPRISE, Ariz. - After fighting their way through both the quarterfinals and semifinals on Thursday morning, Next Level Baseball and Cali National Murphy clinched their spots in the gold-medal game of the 14U National Team Championships Arizona.

The two teams will now compete for the top prize on Friday at Surprise Stadium, with the first pitch set to take place at 11 A.M MT.

Next Level Baseball 11, BPA Black 8

Riding a wave of momentum from its close win over ZT McGuire in the quarterfinals, Next Level Baseball came out hot in the semis and overwhelmed BPA Black en route to an 11-8 victory.

As it has for a good chunk of the tournament so far, the Next Level lineup proved to be the catalyst for the team in this one, with its hitters striking early and often throughout the ball game. The group got going right from the opening frame, with a single by Nathan Medina and a walk by Alex Noe Garcia setting up cleanup hitter Jesse Olivan to bring home the first run of the game on a base hit right up the middle.

Just a few innings later, the Next Level bats really busted the door down, putting up a six spot to put the team firmly in control of the rest of the game. Medina and Garcia set the table once again with a double and a bunt single respectively, and Olivan once again cashed in with a booming triple to the wall in right center that increased the lead to three. They followed this up with a bases-loaded walk by Alex Lopez and a passed ball that brought home two more, and to cap things off, Kyle Underwood bounced a ball up the middle for another two-RBI hit that brought the score up to 7-0.

BPA Black battled back from there, putting up a pair of runs in both the third and fourth innings to make it a close game again, but the Next Level offense could not be kept off the scoreboard. The team scratched across another in the fourth on a double by Jaiden Magana, and in the fifth, it added three more thanks to a pair of errors and a long triple off the bat of Lopez that tallied its 11th and final run.

Things got interesting at the game's conclusion, as BPA Black put six of its first seven hitters of the final inning on base to cut the lead down to three, This stretch also brought the tying run to the plate, but Magana stopped the bleeding and avoided disaster on the mound by picking up a clutch strikeout with one out and a line drive with two that settled comfortably into the glove of his right fielder and secured Next Level's spot in the stadium on Friday.

Cali National Murphy 2, New Level 14U 1

Behind a masterful performance on the mound from starter Anthony Tomminelli and some timely hits by the team's offense, Cali National Murphy held off New Level 14U in a tight 2-1 game to punch its ticket to Friday's gold-medal game.

Tomminelli took the ball for his first start of the week and just his second appearance on the mound overall, and despite this lack of reps during the tournament, he looked locked in from his very first pitch. The young righty made it through his first three innings unscathed, allowing just a trio of hitters to reach and not seeing any of them make it past second base. He also struck out three batters during this span, showcasing a level of swing-and-miss stuff that would get even better as his outing went on.

Throughout these early innings, Tomminelli was working with a lead thanks to some early offense from his teammates. The Cali National bats got things going for their starter right from the first pitch, putting the first two hitters of the game into scoring position with a leadoff walk, a bunt single, and a sacrifice bunt that moved both over. This set things up beautifully for cleanup hitter Dylan Bright, who took advantage by lining a full-count pitch into right to strike first blood. A walk right after loaded the bases and set up another prime opportunity, and this time it was Ervey Quijada that cashed in with an infield single that brought home the team's second run of the inning.

The first hiccup of Tomminelli's outing came in the fourth, when New Level finally managed to put together something with the bats after its cold start. A leadoff double by Keagan Soliza marked the first extra-base hit of the day against the Cali National starter, and after an errant pickoff throw allowed him to advance to third, a ground ball off the bat of Preston Bolam was all that it took to score the run and bring the score to 2-1.

New Level threatened again in the fifth, putting together another rally with two outs. A walk by Pete Browand and a fielding error gave the team a pair of runners on base together for the first time since the opening frame, but Tomminelli shut things down from there, picking up a huge three-pitch strikeout to strand the traffic where it stood.

Seemingly energized by this tightrope act, Tomminelli found another gear for the game's final two frames. He stranded a leadoff single with three straight ground ball outs to finish the sixth with his lead intact, and to start the seventh, he overpowered his opponents with a pair of dominant three-pitch strikeouts. Now just one out away, he put a bow on his stellar outing by finishing the job himself, inducing a weak pop up that locked things up and sent his teammates rushing the field in celebration.

Dugout Chatter

• "It was a great effort. The boys, they battle. Most of these kids have been with me since they were nine or 10 years old, and they fight. They work really hard, and they fight." - Next Level Baseball coach Michael Torres on his team's performance in its semifinal game.
• "We need to throw strikes, and we need to continue to be a tough out in the box. We left some guys out on the bases early, and you can't leave guys out when everyone is a little thin on pitching. We also need to make sure we execute. We're a skilled group, we'll bunt, we'll hit-and-run, we'll do some of those things, as well as making sure we play good catch." - Torres on what his players need to do to take home the gold medal tomorrow."
• "Honestly, I was super nervous when I first started pitching because it's our last tournament of the season. It was crazy. My team gave me so much. They kept me up and kept me energized. It was just a great game." - Tomminelli on his seven inning, no earned run, eight strikeout performance on the mound.
• "That was a good feeling. I was super nervous since I didn't want to let up another run, but I was confident. Confidence is key." - Tomminelli on how he felt going back to the mound for the seventh and final inning.

On Deck

• Next Level Baseball (8-0), the No. 3 seed in the tournament, will square off against Cali National Murphy (8-0), the No. 5 seed, in the gold-medal game at 11 A.M. MT at Surprise Stadium. Both teams will be competing for the first National Team Championships Arizona gold medal in their programs' histories.
• New Level 14U (7-1), the No. 1 seed, will take on BPA Black (7-1), the No. 2 seed, in the bronze-medal game at 8 A.M. MT at Surprise Stadium. New Level will be looking to earn its first medal at a Champs AZ event, while BPA will be trying for its fifth.