Desert Ridge's baseball team put the cap on a brilliant regular season and likely did the same to Highland's playoff aspirations on Tuesday afternoon.

After scoring five runs the first three innings on two hits, Desert Ridge socked three homers the rest of the way in a 10-4 triumph over the host Hawks in a Division I game.

Desert Ridge won its 15th game in a row overall and 15th consecutive power-ranking game. That pretty much assures the Jaguars a top-3 finish in the D-I power-rankings and a first-round bye to the state tournament. Desert Ridge, which entered the game No. 3 in the power-rankings, is 26-5 overall and 17-1 in power-ranking games. Highland (15-9, 10-7 prg) began Tuesday 27th in the D-I power-rankings and needed to leap-frog No. 26 Corona del Sol, No. 25 Basha and No. 24 Trevor Browne to qualify for state. A sweep of its final two games might have done the trick, but a split is the best Highland can do. Highland closes its season on Wednesday at Basha.

Desert Ridge got home runs and three RBI apiece from Taylor Flores and Jayden Eggiman. Flores three-run homer came in the fourth and an out later a solo shot from Dominic Maxie improved the Jaguars' lead from 5-1 to 9-1. Eggiman added a triple and double and leadoff hitter Cam Richins contributed three hits. Their offense backed the two-hit pitching of Skyler Cohn. Cohn won his ninth game of the season. He worked the first five innings and allowed one run -- a solo homer to Kevan Elcock. Elcock finished with two RBI to pace Highland.

As for the rest of D-I baseball on Tuesday, most of the top 30 teams that played won. Others prevailing were: No. 1 Desert Mountain, No. 4 Pinnacle, No. 5 Tolleson, No. 7 Millennium, No. 8 Chaparral, No. 10 Hamilton, No. 11 Brophy, No. 13 Mesquite, No. 15 Sunnyside, No. 18 Buena, No. 19 Cienega, No. 21 Desert Vista, No. 23 San Luis, No. 24 Trevor Browne, No. 26 Corona del Sol and No. 30 Perry. Teams among the top 30 losing were No. 16 Horizon, No. 17 Valley Vista, No. 20 Marana Mountain View, No. 28 Marana and No. 29 Mountain Ridge.

In the Division I softball power-ranking chase, seven of the top 10 teams won. The top eight teams draw first-round byes so finishing in the top eight has incentive attached. Top-10 winners  Tuesday were: No. 1 Mountain Ridge, No. 2 Cienega, No. 3 Basha, No. 5 Red Mountain, No. 6 Marana, No. 8 Mesa Mountain View and No. 9 Desert Ridge. No. 4 Gilbert lost to Basha, No. 7 Horizon lost to Desert Mountain and No. 10 Sunnyside bowed to Mesa Mountain View. Mesa Mountain View got 17 strikeouts from ace Val Kaff and a home run from Syd Ryan in that one, a 5-0 victory.

Other teams in the top 25 who won on Tuesday: No. 11 Desert Mountain, No. 12 Centennial, No. 13 Xavier, No. 15 Chaparral, No. 17 Corona del Sol, No. 19 Buena, No. 20 Cibola and No. 21 Desert Vista. One team from Section 1 -- either Millennium or Kofa -- will earn an automatic berth yet not be at least 24th in the power-rankings. Each of the three D-I sections gets four automatic berths to state regardless of power-ranking. That means the other contenders for the final spot must finish 23rd or higher to qualify for state. Kofa was No. 29 on Tuesday and lost its final game to Cibola. Millennium was No. 32 and defeated Independence.