Desert  Ridge did not have a host of veteran varsity players back with which to defend its 5A-I baseball title, but the Jaguars have not let that deter them.

Desert Ridge seemed destined to share the 5A East Valley Region crown with Mountain Pointe, but events of Tuesday now have the Jaguars with the chance to win the region outright on Wednesday.

That's because Desert Ridge took care of region business Tuesday night with a 13-6 win over Marcos de Niza while Casa Grande stunned former EVR co-leader Mountain Pointe, 10-8, earlier in the day at Mountain Pointe.

"I found out just before the game Mountain Pointe lost," Desert Ridge coach Pat Herrera said. "Then I remembered three years ago we were in a similar situation and had to beat Marcos de Niza to win our region. We lost. I wasn't sure if that was good news or not since we were playing Marcos tonight."

It was good news for the Jaguars. After spotting Marcos de Niza a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a two-run single by Brad Allemang, Desert Ridge responded with three runs in its initial at-bat and never looked back.

A two-run double by sophomore Alonzo Palacios and RBI single by Xavier Sotelo put Deserrt Ridge (21-7, 10-1 region) back in front. Palacios finished the night 3-for-4 (all doubles) and four RBI..

Senior Scott Hoffman, one of the only mainstays from last year's state title squad, earned the win with three innings of work.

"It was a bullpen for him, but he threw 30 pitches in the first inning and he had trouble with his control," Herrera said. "He settled down and got the work we wanted. We'll probably do the same thing with Dylan (Barrett) tomorrow."

Mountain Pointe dropped to 9-2 in the region with its loss to Casa Grande. Mountain Pointe closes its regular season at Skyline on Wednesday while Desert Ridge visits Casa Grande.

Along with Palacios, Desert Ridge got offensive support from Barrett , Nick Mcginness and Taylor Flores. Barrett and Mcginness had two hits and two RBI each and Flores had two RBI. Barrett hit the game's only home run, a solo shot in the sixth.

The loss all but ended Marcos de Niza's faint hopes of qualifying for the 5A-II state tournament. The Padres fell to 6-11 in power-point games and were 17thin 5A-II in the power rankings heading in to Tuesday. The top 16 teams qualify for state. Marcos closes its regular season at home Wednesday against Westwood.