Mountain Pointe is on pace to break the school record its baseball team set last season for home runs (60). That mark likely will be broken with the Pride resting at 48 homers in 18 games to date.

But coach Brandon Buck does not believe home runs define the hitting success the Pride possess. He thinks a game a couple days ago against Marcos de Niza is more telling.

"We scored 23 runs and hit jone home run in that one," Buck said. "This team has a bunch of good hitters. Sure, we can hit home runs. But we don't need to hit homers to put up a lot of runs."

Eighteen games in to the 2011 campaign, Mountain Pointe sports a 14-4 record. The Pride has scored 211 runs (11.7 per game). Their season low is six. They've scored 10 runs or more 10 times.

Last month at the Mesquite-Gilbert Invitational, Mesa Mountain View was on the short end of a 16-10 loss to the Pride. Mountain View coach Mike Thiel, despite watching his team give up 16 runs, didn't believe his team pitched poorly.

"They can hit," Thiel said. "They have the big kids in the middle of the lineup, but they have more than that. There aren't any easy outs."

The "big guys" in the middle are No. 3 hitter Kevin Cron and cleanup hitter Joey Curletta. Cron just recently broke the state record for home runs in a career (44) and has 46 over his nearly three varsity seasons. Thirteen of those have come in the 18 games to date. He also has a share of the single season homer mark of 22, (Corey Myers of Desert Vista in 1999).

Curletta, a junior, has 10 bombs and right behind him in the five hole is Anthony Baldarrama with six. Nine different players have homered this season, including Jordan Kipper (5), Scott Kingery (4), Justin Tibbet (4), Brantley Bell (3) and Sam Kingery (2).

Many teams may fret over four or five run deficits in the late innings. Last week Mountain Pointe was blanked for three innings in back-to-back games and ended up scoring 16 and 10 runs in its final couple of at-bats to win going away against Perry and Desert Vista, respectively. No. 9 hitter Quinn Tucker, who hasn't homered yet, posted a 3-for-4 game against Desert Vista with four RBIs.

Mountain Pointe is a cinch to make the 5A-I playoffs with a high seed. The Pride is battling defending state champ Desert Ridge for the 5A East Valley Region title, a two-team race as the season heads to the final month of the regular season. Buck is not concerned when state tournament play rolls around that bigger venues will hold his team down offensively.

"The way these guys approach it, swing it, I have confidence in them," Buck said. "They'll hit a lot of balls in those big gaps that will go for extra bases. With the same approach a lot of balls will still be doubles. The big yards won't effect how  we hit."