St. Mary's baseball team is off to a perfect start and pitching has been the primary reason.

The Knights reeled off their 12th win without a loss Tuesday night, getting a stellar three-hit, nine-strikeout performance from Antonio Coronado in shutting out host Highland, 1-0, to close the second day of play at the Triple Play Classic at Highland High.

Coronado, a sophomore, became the fourth pitcher for St. Mary's to record at least two wins. The 5-foot-8 right-hander mixed a good fastball with a top-notch curve ball that kept Highland off-balance pretty much all evening. Coronado, as often is the case, drove in the winning run as well. A two-out throwing error by Highland  in the top of the fifth brought Coronado to the plate to face Hawks' reliever Kevan Elcock. Elcock got ahead of Coronado 0-2. Protecing on Elcock's next pitch, Coronado looped a single just inside the left-field foul line to score teammate Lukas Treffers with the lone run.

"When Tony has all his pitches working he's very tough," St. Mary's coach Mike Collins said. "Our pitchers have been smart out there, mixing their pitches. Antonio missed the first part of the season (preseason invitational) with and injury. He's been behind, but he's catching up." 

Collins praised the effort of Highland's pitching as well, senior lefty Ethan Evanko, who started, and Elcock. Evanko pitched 4 2/3 innings allowing three hits and fanning four. Evanko took the loss with the run he surrendered unearned.

Seniors Irvin Ruiz and Christian Jiminez have three wins each and Coronado joined senior Justin Mauro with two wins after Tuesday night's effort. St. Mary's has allowed 21 runs in its 12 games. The competition has been ratched up the last couple days, but the Knight's have responded with three one-run victories after winning most of their other triumphs via rout.

In other games from the Triple Play Classic, Talon Parke blasted a three-run homer and a double, driving in four runsin the tournament's morning game to help Westwood defeat Apache Junction, 10-2.

Westwood (8-3 overall) collected 14 hits and led 10-0 after three innings. Ty Dale had two hits and scored three times. Austin Stinnett added two hits, including a two-run triple. David Montano and Mikey Egger also had two hits for Westwood. Alex Daniels was the winning pitcher, tossing three scoreless innings and striking out five.

In afternoon games at Highland, Perry beat Dobson, 9-2. Dobson came back to notch its first tournament victory a couple hours later, beating Mesa High, 2-1, in eight innings.

Tournament records of the teams heading to Wednesday's final day of pool play are: St. Mary's 3-0, Perry 2-0, Highland 2-1, Mesa 1-2, Dobson 1-2, Westwood 1-2 and Apache Junction 0-3.

MESQUITE-GILBERT INVITATIONAL

Gilbert High extended its winning streak to eight games overall and to 3-0 in the tournament with a 17-3 triumph over Queen Creek and a 5-3 decision over Desert Vista.

In Gilbert's win over Desert Vista, Jack Zoellner singled in the tie-breaking run in the bottom of the sixth and scored an insurance run after a pair of Thunder errors.  Zoellner had three RBI on two singles and a bases-loaded walk. Gilbert leadoff hitter Manny Tapia had two hits scored a run and drove in a run. Teammate Dustin Peterson also had two hits. 

Colby Woodmansee paced Desert Vista with a single, sacrifice fly, walk and a run scored. Tyler Viza doubled and had an RBI for the Thunder The final game of the day at Gilbert High saw Mesa Mountain View rally from a 2-1 deficit late and defeat Queen Creek, 10-2.

In tournament games played Tuesday at Mesquite HS, Basha topped Westview, 9-2;  McClintock edged Red Mountain, 6-,5 and Mesquite defeated Skyline, 6-3.

Records of the teams in tournament play so far are as follows: Mesquite 3-0, Gilbert 3-0, Basha 2-0, Mountain View 2-1, Desert Vista 1-1, McClintock 1-1, Red Mountain 0-2, Westview 02, Skyline 0-2 and Queen Creek 0-3.