VISTA -- With one inning left Saturday, it looked as if Poway High would lose its first baseball game in Palomar League play this season.

Trailing by a run and with the lead runner picked off second based for the first out in the final inning of the first game, the defending CIF San Diego Section Division I champion Titans got three straight singles to chase home the tying and go-ahead runs for a 6-5 victory over Vista in a battle of teams ranked among the state's best.

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Poway, ranked No. 13 by Cal-Hi Sports, then battered Vista, the No. 8 team in the state, with an eight-run first inning in the second game that turned into a rout from there as Poway swept the Panthers with an 18-2 thumping in the nightcap.

"That second game was the best game I've ever played in," said Poway's sophomore second baseman Connor Joe, who was 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs in the second game.

Joe may have put the final touches on that second-game win with a three-run homer to cap the first inning outburst. Catcher Austin Wynns got Poway started with a three-run homer for a 3-0 lead.

Those were the 24th and 25th home runs this season for the Titan, who are 6-0 in league play, two games ahead of Rancho Bernardo which split its doubleheader with Carlsbad on Saturday. Poway is 18-3 overall.

"To get a sweep on their field is huge because we have more tough games coming up," Poway coach Bob Parry said. "This league is so tough I still don't see anyone winning all 15 league games."

It looked as if Vista (17-5, 2-4) would win the first game after junior Scott Collins slammed a solo homer for a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning.

But his seventh homer of the year wasn't enough as the Titans used a pair of errors for a run in the sixth inning to set the stage for the final push in the seventh.

An error and Josh Anderson's single got it started. After pinch runner Brett Carlile was picked off, Dillon Dooney singled, Trevin Lipe singled in the tying run and John Jensen-Johnson singled home the winning run.

Lipe pitched the final 1 2/3 innings to pick up the win, his first this season.

"I think the momentum from that first game carried over in the second one," Joe said. "It's harder to win the second game of a doubleheader like this.

"There was never a sense of panic or urgency in the first game. We know we can come back at any time.

"The second game? I don't know what got into us, but we had lunch after that first game that seemed like a playoff game and we were fired back up."

Senior pitcher Austin Steussy finished off the three-game sweep of Vista this week by going four innings without allowing any runs and just three hits. By the time he departed Saturday, Poway led 15-0.

For the doubleheader, Poway, a team with a .357 team batting average coming into Saturday, lashed 16 hits and received six walks.

"The first game had every bit of a playoff feel," Vista coach Rick Lepire said. "Every pitch, every call counted.

"We had two errors in the sixth inning to give them a run and some life, and they used that to beat us.

"Poway showed it is a darned good team."

That is still undefeated in the toughest league in the section.

Contact staff writer Terry Monahan at (760) 739-6648 or tmonahan@nctimes.com.