Tuesday’s (April 2) baseball game between Phoenix Pinnacle and host Scottsdale Desert Mountain looked as if it was going to be a slugfest supreme – last team still standing among the rubble wins.

The teams combined for 12 runs and 14 hits through the first two innings.

Then they reversed course, got decent pitching thereafter and the game became more “normal.’’

Desert Mountain went on to record a 9-6 victory.

As the game wore on, the sun was beginning to set and it was becoming more and more difficult to distinguish the ball moving in and out of light and shadow.

Senior Cody Erickson, who started the game at shortstop, entered the game in relief with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the fifth inning.

He got a ground ball to his third baseman, forcing the runner at third for the final out.

Erickson gave up a two-out double in the sixth and left the runner stranded, and set the side down in order in the seventh, striking out the first two men.

Desert Mountain is now 18-3 under first-year coach Brian Stephenson. Pinnacle slipped to 13-10. Desert Mountain entered the week at No. 3 in the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Division I power ratings and Pinnacle was No. 5.

Stephenson, formerly the coach at Mesa Westwood, has his Desert Mountain team pointed in the right direction, but has urged his Wolves not to let up.

“This game had a playoff-caliber atmosphere, but we need to continue to improve,’’ he said. “We need to get better every day and be playing our best when May hits (state tournament).’’

Pinnacle struck first, scoring three times in the first inning, including a two-run home run by Brock Hartley.

Desert Mountain came right back to tie it in its half of the first on a three-run homer by Tim Willittes.

“We pride ourselves in trying to win that first inning and Tim’s hit was big, allowing us to get back into the game,’’ Stephenson said.

Hartley came through again with a two-run single in the second, but Desert Mountain came back to take a 7-5 lead. Erickson ripped a two-run double down the left-field line and Willittes hit a two-run double into the gap in left-center.

Pinnacle moved closer at 7-6 in the fourth on a double by M.J. Hubbs. Desert Mountain got the run back in the fifth on a single by David Greer and added a bit of a cushion in the sixth on a double by Jakob Goldfarb.

All the while, Erickson was doing his thing.

“He’s one of the most competitive people I’ve been around,’’ Stephenson said. “He wants to be in those big situations.’’