The United States team said its "next man up" philosophy has powered it during the Premier 12.

The Americans will play for the title on Saturday because the next man up kept getting on base during the fourth inning.

Zeke Spruill controlled things on the mound in a surprise start and the U.S. scored five runs in the fourth inning to overcome a one-run deficit and advance to the Premier 12 final with a 6-1 victory over Mexico on Friday night at Tokyo Dome.

"This was a big victory for us," U.S. manager Willie Randolph said. "To me it all starts with starting pitching. This young man, Mr. Spruill, stepped up, and did an unbelievable job for us. We had an issue with our starter today. Again, we've been preaching from Day 1, next man up, and this young man right here was ready to take the ball and did an outstanding job for us."

The U.S. will face South Korea, which staged a stunning ninth-inning rally to upset Japan on Thursday, for the inaugural Premier 12 title on Saturday night at Tokyo Dome. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

"I watched them last night," Randolph said of the Korean team. "I was very impressed with the way they stuck to it and came back. Japan is a tough team and they showed a lot of guts."

The teams met in the opening round of the tournament, with Brett Eibner's RBI single in the top of the 10th providing the difference in the Americans' 3-2 win on Nov. 15 in Taipei.

"They're a good, solid team," Eibner said. "They beat Japan and they had a good game against us. It could've gone either way. We can't take anything for granted. We've got to go out there and play hard, control what we can control and see what happens."

Japan and Mexico will meet in the third-place game at the Big Egg at 1 p.m.

"We know the Japanese team is a very good team, but we are also a high quality team and we want to show that," Mexico catcher Humberto Sosa said.

The U.S. picked up its first hit of the game with one out in the fourth and the next seven U.S. players reached base during the frame.

Adam Frazier drove in the Americans' first run of the inning with a two-out RBI single, and Dan Rohlfing brought home two more with a double. Run-scoring singles by Elliot Soto and Jacob May pushed the lead to 5-1.

"The players played well today, however the U.S. team scored a lot of runs in one inning and we couldn't recover from that," Mexico's manager, Mike Brito, said.

Tyler Pastornicky added to the lead with a sacrifice fly to center in the fifth.

Spruill threw five innings of one-run ball to earn his first win in three Premier 12 starts. Spruill allowed four hits, struck out three and walked two. He was a last-minute replacement for Jarrett Grube, who had a stiff neck.

"I was just excited to keep our team in the game until we started scoring runs," Spruill said. "Then to keep the lead until the fifth and then (Seth) Simmons comes in for us and throws a great three innings."

Mark Serrano, took the loss for Mexico. Serrano was charged with three runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Sosa, the Mexico catcher, hit his first home run of the tournament to lead off the fourth and break a scoreless tie. Sosa was one of the leaders at the plate for the Mexicans during the Premier 12, and is 9-for-24 with a home run and six RBIs so far.

"I think I played very well, but we couldn't win today, which I regret," Sosa said. "I'm satisfied with the home run, but we lost the game. The U.S. is a great team, but we should've hit more."

Mexico tried to get a rally going against Simmons in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with two away. The potential comeback was quelled when Simmons retired Sosa to end the frame.

The Mexicans held their heads high after the loss and looked ahead to the third-place game against Japan.

"That's the way the game is," said reliever Andrew Romo. "Every out counts. Obviously, they scored five runs with two outs. So that's pretty tough. If you noticed, they didn't score after that, kind of held them there. They held us as well.

"We would've faced Korea again, but now we get to play Japan again. We gave them a good game the first time. So now they aren't going to underestimate us, and that's fine. It's going to be a great game tomorrow."

Staff writer Kaz Nagatsuka contributed to this report.