Articles

The following was written by USA Baseball on June 27, 2021.

PHOENIX — TB SoCal Easton marched into the quarterfinals of the 17U National Team Championships Arizona with an 8-0 win in five innings against New Level Xtreme College Prep on Sunday at Peoria Sports Complex.

Mikiah Negrete guided TB SoCal Easton to the victory and contributed on both sides of the plate. The University of San Diego commit scattered four hits across five shutout frames and struck out eight to earn the win. He also laced an RBI-double to right to extend SoCal’s lead to 7-0 in the fourth.

After Negrete put up a zero in the opening frame, SoCal wasted no time jumping on the board in their first at-bats. Gavin Grahovac and Draven Nushida delivered back-to-back singles and Roman Martin pushed the game’s first run across via a sacrifice fly. Dean Curley followed with an RBI-single through the left side and Aiva Arquette’s sacrifice fly plated a third run.

New Level starter Brett Ellingson worked around a two-out walk in the second, but surrendered two more runs in the third and saw SoCal’s advantage grow to 5-0. Negrete’s run-scoring double, along with Chris Esquivel’s RBI-groundout, made it a 7-0 game.

The final run of the game came across to score via a wild pitch, which initiated a run rule.

TB SoCal Easton improved to 6-0 at the 2021 17U National Team Championships Arizona and owns a standout 51-4 run differential. The team will await its next opponent (TBD) in the quarterfinals of the tournament Monday morning.

New Level Xtreme College Prep concluded its time at the event with a 4-2 record.

Key Moments

• Roman Martin (SoCal) pushed across the game’s first run via a sacrifice fly to score Gavin Grahovac.
• Dean Curley (SoCal) plated a second run in the opening frame with a single through the left side.
• Aiva Arquette (SoCal) delivered a sacrifice fly to extend TB SoCal Easton’s lead to 3-0 in the opening frame.
• Sax Matson’s (New Level) two-out single in the fourth provided New Level Xtreme College Prep with its best scoring opportunity of the game with runners on the corners.
• Mikiah Negrete (SoCal) laced an RBI-double to right to make it a 7-0 game in the fourth inning.
• Draven Nushida (SoCal) raced home on a wild pitch to score the eighth run for TB SoCal Easton and initiate a run rule.

Notable Information

• TB SoCal Easton, whose 16U team captured gold at the 2021 National Team Championships Arizona, owns a spotless 15-0 mark across the two levels at the tournament.

On Deck

• TB SoCal Easton (6-0) awaits its next opponent (TBD) in the quarterfinals of the 17U National Team Championships Arizona. First pitch is set for 7 a.m. MT on Monday at Peoria Sports Complex (Padres quad).
• New Level Xtreme College Prep concludes its time at the 17U National Team Championships Arizona with a 4-2 mark.

Social

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