Valley Christian kept its perfect record intact Monday night, but not without a battle.

Thanks to its powerful offensive lineup, the Trojans outslugged visiting Gilbert Christian, 13-9 in a 3A South Central Region showdown.

The teams combined for 21 hits and four home runs, three of which came from Valley Christian. Caleb Danzeisen went 3-4 and blasted two home runs for the Trojans, driving in three total runs. Danzeisen helped load the bases in the first inning, when he nearly homered to center field. Two batters later, Berkeley Kaiser took it out of the park for a grand slam home run and an early 4-0 Valley Christian lead after one inning.

But that was only the beginning for both teams.

Gilbert Christian nearly matched Valley Christian's offensive muscle. The Knights picked up two runs in the top of the second inning, and took a 5-4 lead in the third, thanks to RBI hits from Sam Webb and Nate Nielsen. Nielsen drove in three RBI's for the game, but Valley Christian had too much Danzeisen and too much offense for the Gilbert Christian (13-4, 5-1).

The Trojans moved to 17-0, but coach Vince LaGatta insists his team has no interest in dwelling on its perfect record.

"All we care about is the next game ahead of us, and tonight we faced a pretty good team," LaGatta said after the game. "We knew coming in that Gilbert (Christian) had a potent lineup. Jeremy Kuiper is one of the best hitters in the state. We knew this was gonna be a fight and it turned into a great offensive battle."

Jimmy Twombly added three RBI's for Valley Christian, two of which came in the bottom of the third inning, which put the Trojans back ahead 6-5. Freshman Ryan Sanchez drove in two runs for Valley Christian as well.

Gilbert Christian's Jeremy Kuiper hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning to cut Valley Christian's lead to 7-6. From that point on, the Knights cooled off with the bats.

Gilbert Christian will face Benjamin Franklin Tuesday night. Valley Christian travels to Tucson for a match up with Sabino.