Mesquite and Mountain Pointe were highly-regarded in preseason so the fact they are the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the 5A-I state baseball tournament, respectively, is no surprise.

Both have the draws to make an eventual title showdown a reality in two weeks, but a handful of other teams won't make it easy on the frontrunners.

Here is a capsule look at the 5A-I and 5A-II tournaments that begin on Saturday April 30:

5A-I first-round pairings (all games at 11 a.m. unless noted): Pool A -- #16 North Canyon at #1 Mesquite; #9 Brophy at #8 Alhambra; #12 Highland at #5 Mesa Mtn. View; #13 Casa Grande at #4 Hamilton. Pool B -- #15 Maryvale at #2 Mountain Pointe; #10 Trevor Browne at #7 Salpointe; #11 Corona del Sol at #6 Gilbert; #14 Dobson at #3 Desert Ridge.

Tournament observations: Last year's state title matchup (Desert Ridge-Mountain Pointe) won't happen this year as the East Valley Region rivals reside in the same half of the bracket. What the top four teams have in common is consistency, particularly Mesquite (25-3)  and Mountain Pointe (23-5), who never lost two in a row this season. Desert Ridge  (22-7) is an overachieving bunch with the least amount of playoff experience of the top four seeds as the Jaguars shoot for a third straight state title (5A-II in 2009 and 5A-I in 2010). Hamilton (22-6) did have a pair of two-game losing streaks, Four of those losses were to 5A-II No. 1 seed Boulder Creek, Mesquite, Mountain Pointe and  Las Vegas Bishop Gorman.  They Huskies lost a preseason tourney game to Red Mountain and a power-point game to Red Mountain this week. Representation:  The field is heavy in Central Region teams with six of seven schools from that region qualifying (Mesquite, Mtn. View, Gilbert, Corona del Sol, Highland and Dobson). The next-best-represented regions are the East Valley (three), Metro (three), Fiesta  (two), Desert Valley (one) and Southern (one). This is the first time in nearly a decade Desert Vista and Red Mountain did not qualify for state. Best draw:  Belongs to No. 2 seed Mountain Pointe, which is in a quadrant consisting of Maryvale, Trevor Browne and Salpointe. Best first-round matchup:  Corona del Sol vs. Gilbert. Both teams have played well of late and split two region contests. Toughest quadrant: Slight edge to Corona, Gilbert, Desert Ridge and Dobson over  Mountain View, Highland, Hamilton and Casa Grande. Darkhorse: Gilbert. Predicted Pool A final: Mesquite vs. Hamilton. Predicted Pool B final: Mountain Pointe vs. Desert Ridge.