Justin McAllister enjoyed a good day all around Tuesdayafternoon by pitching six shutout innings and helping himself with a two-run homer in the first inning as Gilbert  remained unscathed in the Mesquite-Gilbert Baseball Invitational with a 7-1 triumph over Desert Vista at Gilbert High.

"He is our No. 1," Gilbert coach Matt Gutierrez said.. "This is his third year on the varsity...... Every outing he's had this year has been decent or better."

Gilbert is one of three teams of the 10 in the tournament that are unbeaten through three days of play. The others are Basha and Mesquite, who both moved their tourney records to 3-0 with wins on Tuesday.

McAllister scattered five hits, walked two and struck out four. He put Gilbert up 2-0 by slamming an 0-2 pitch over the right-field fence. It scored leadoff hitter Kaden Tomlinson, who reached when he was hit by a pitch by Desert Vista starter Rio Gomez.

"The pitch he hit for the homer was an off-speed pitch, but he got the head of the bat on it," Gutierrez said. "It wasn't that bad a pitch. It was big because it came with two outs and two strikes. Their guy struck out the side in the first inning. He was tough on us."

Gomez, also a left-hander, allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings. He gave up just four hits and struck out eight. A myriad of little things -- the hit batter, a balk, an error and a wild pitch led to his demise.

"(Gomez) was pretty good," Gutierrez said. "Everything he threw moved. He kept us off-balance.",

Besides McAllister's homer, Tomlinson drove in a run with a ground out, Dustin Peterson had two hits and an RBI and a wild pitch also plated a run for Gilbert, which finished with seven hits.

Gilbert improved to 9-5 overall. The Tigers opened the year slowly, dropping four of their first six games. They've now won seven of their last eight. Desert Vista dropped to 5-6 and 2-1 in the tournament. They, like Gilbert, have played better in the last week to 10 days after a 1-4 start.

"We're starting to pick up steam," Gutierrez said. "We're figuring ourselves out. We've beat some good teams, and lost to some teams I thought we should have beaten. But that's part of the process when you';re trying to figure out who you are."