Desert Vista baseball coach Stan Luketich wasn't panicking Saturday morning with his team bringing a three-game losing streak to face archrival and visiting Mountain Pointe.

"By the way they practice you'd never know they'd lost some games," Luketich said of losses the past eight days to Mountain Pointe, Horizon and Corona del Sol. "We came out, and did a nice job today. I love coaching these kids. They work hard."

Playing great defense, getting 3 1/3 innings of spotless relief and taking advantage of opportunities given it by Mountain Pointe, the Thunder eeked out a 5-4 victory to end its losing streak and extend a losing streak of the same duration for its foe from the northeast.

Desert Vista (17-7 overall, 10-3 power-ranking games) prevailed with a hefty assist from Mountain Pointe, particularly in a two-run fifth that decided the game. Mountain Pointe lefty Zach Cordova took a 4-3 lead to the bottom of the fifth thanks to a four-run rally in the fourth. The big blow in the frame was a three-run, pinch-hit homer by Jorge Carrazco. It came off Desert Vista starter Kyle Gibbs, who up to that point. had held Mountain Pointe (13-7, 8-5 prg) scoreless.

Cordova had rebounded from a rocky second in which a walk, double, two-run single and throwing error gave Desert Vista an early 3-0 edge. Cordova walked the first two batters in the fifth, both of whom worked counts to 3-2. Leadoff hitter A.J. Valencia bunted back to Cordova. Cordova looked at third, but whiirled and threw wild to first allowing a run to score. An out and intentional walk later, Aaron Modi looped a tie-breaking and game-winning single to right.

"They helped us,"Luketich said. "We made contact with two strikes in that inning. Had some good at-bats."

Luketich was quite pleased with the pitching the Thunder received in reversing a 2-0 loss to Mountain Pointe on April 5. Kyle Gibbs was tabbed to start with top two starters Sean McGuire and Tyler Viza having thrown on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Desert  Vista got perfect relief from Diego Leal and McGuire to seal the win. Leal, who picked up the win, retired all seven hitters he faced and McGuire tossed a 1-2-3 seventh to notch the save. Thunder shortstop Colby Woodmansee made a fantastic stop of a wicked hop off the bat of Cole Tucker and threw Tucker out  at first to end the game. Earlier in the game Woodmansee threw a runner out at home from second after picking up a deflected throw on a stolen base attempt. 

"We needed Kyle to start," Luketich said. "He'd throw a couple good bullpens, and earned the start. He gave us three good innings."

Mountain Pointe entered this week with a four-game winning streak in power-ranking games. The Pride topped Casa Grande on Monday, but dropped games Wednesday (Mountain Ridge), Thursday (Gilbert) and Saturday. Ten days ago both teams had a good chance to be in the top 10 of the Division I power-rankings. That's a tall order now, but overall both are fairly secure for state tournament berths.

Kyle Gunderson was the only Desert Vista player with two hits and drove in two runs. Michael Weaver was 2-for-3 for Mountain Pointe, a double and triple. Weaver was on base when Carrazco belted his homer in the fourth.