Skyline celebrates the finish of 7-1 win over Brophy Prep in 6A baseball tourney (AzPreps365 photo)

Skyline coach Pat Herrera terms it smoke and mirrors. Not sure he really believes that because his 21-win team is unbeaten so far in this year's 6A state baseball tournament.

The #11 Coyotes third win of the tourney on Tuesday - first in the double-elimination portion - was produced by the arm of pitcher Cole Yocum and a steady perfomance in all phases by the rest of the team in topping #14 Brophy Prep, 7-1, at HoHoKam Stadium.

Skyline (21-9) advances to the winner's bracket of double elimination against Sandra Day O'Connor on Friday at 6:30 at HoHoKam Stadium.

"I was worried after winning the two elimination games that we'd come out and relax and we didn't," Herrera said. "We had great at-bats the first inning and I was a little frustrated we only scored one.  I knew if we kept at it we would break through and finally we did (fifth inning)."

The first inning illustrated the resolve Skyline possessed. Yocum, who has batted leadoff the past several games, led off with the first of his three hits. Next up were AJ Herrera and Jan Rollon. They proceeded to rack up 15-pitch and 11-pitch at-bats, respectively. Both drew walks. Tyler Jackson then delliverd that first run with a sacrifice fly.

Rollon came through his next two at-bats with a third inning homer to right and a double to right in the fifth. That double touched off a five-run rally that took a  2-1 advantage to 7-1. The rally was capped by Yocum's two-run single to left.

Yocum hit the pitch limit with one out in the seventh, but Zach Wells finished up fanning the final two batters. Yocum allowed six hits, walked four and fanned four with only the one run allowed. Skyline made no errors. The kind of game that keeps a team winning.

Jackson finished 1-3 with a triple and two RBI. Patrick Herrera was 3-3 batting in the No. 9 hole for Skyline. Michael Diaz drove in Brophy's run with a fifth-inning single. Brophy plays the SDO-Westwood loser on Thursday in an elimination game at 4 at HoHoKam.

#7 SANDRA DAY O"CONNOR 4, #15 WESTWOOD 3 (8 innings): In the nightcap at HoHoKam Stadium, the Eagles plated the winning run on Greg Bozinovich's sacrifice fly with no out in the eighth inning to edge the Warriors.Wewtwood faces an elimination game Friday at 4 at HoHoKam Stadium against Brophy.

Jayce Easley opened the SDO eighth with a triple to right-center. Westwood starter Jimmy Villa, who had a no-hitter through four innings, was replaced. Two intentional walks were issued to load the bases before Bozinovich delivered the game winner.

Villa fanned nine in and surrendered just four hits. He also hit a two-run homer in the third that boosted Westwood's lead at the time to 3-0. That lead held until the bottom of the sixth when a walk to Noah Burgarello and infield hit by Amari Bartee got a rally started for SDO. Villa got the next two batters to pop out and fly out. Westwood coach JR Langston opted to walk the Eagles' power-hitting third baseman Nolan Gorman to load the bases. That strategy was spoiled as Villa hit Bozinovich with a pitch to force in a run. Pinch-hitter Noah Nithman poked a single threw the right side of the infield to tie the game at 3.

#5 MOUNTAIN RIDGE 5, #4 RED MOUNTAIN 0: Zach Martinez settled for a one-hitter over six innings piching Mountain Ridge past Red Mountain at Diablo Stadiium. Martinez lost his no-hit bid in giving up a two-out single to Kai Murphy in the fifth inning. Preston Godfrey's two-run triple in the fifth inning highlighted a four-run rally and broke up a pitching duel between Martinez and Red Mountain's Bobby Meza. Mountain Ridge advances to the double elimination winner's bracket on Friday and faces Hamilton at 6:30 at Diablo Stadim.

#8 HAMILTON 8, #1 MOUNTAIN VIEW 1: The defending state champion Huskies rode their second fine pitching performance of the tournament, this one from Dustin Bermudez, to top the Toros at Diablo Stadium. Bermudez tossed the first six innings and allowed the run in the first inning. He went on to scatter six hits and strike out a season high 11 batters. Hamilton took the lead for good in the third inning scoring four times off Mountain View starter Sean Rimmer. Bermudez drove in the first run to tie the game and Michael Brueser, JD McLaughlin and Hayden Baker tacked on RBI to complete the rally.  The No. 1 seeds in 6A, 5A (Mesquite) and 4A (Nogales) have all lost the first game of double elimination games in their respective tournaments.