Hamilton enjoyed a productive day offensively Thursda yafternoon  in the 5A-I state baseball semifinals by denting the scoreboard for 13 runs.

That total should have been much less, much to the chagrin of Mesquite coach Jeff Holland.

Hamilton won Pool A and a berth in the 5A-I  title game with a 13-7 win over top-seed Mesquite at Camelback Ranch Glendale Stadium The Huskies gladly took and/or capitalized on a couple Wildcat errors, a balk and wild pitch to amass that total. Nine of the 13 runs were unearned.

"If we get them 1-2-3 in the the second inning, I think it's a different game," Holland said.

He may have been right. But the fact is a two-out error with noone on opened the door for Hamilton to score five unearned runs in the second. That answered a 4-1 deficit the Huskies faced after Mesquite scored three runs on four hits in the top of the inning to gain momentum in a must-win game.

"We did get a gift in the second inning," Hamilton coach Mike Woods said. "Even down 4-1 at the time I wasn't that concerned. I thought it was going to take nine or 10 runs to win."

Hamilton (26-6) has now  reached a championship game (5A or 5A-I) six times in the last nine years and the semifinals or better  eight of the last 10 seasons. The Huskies will face No. 2 seed Mountain Pointe, which won Pool B by hammering Desert Ridge, 14-2. The title game is Saturday at 7 p.m. at Camelback Ranch. The only time Hamilton has advanced through the winners bracket unscathed in 5A-I double elimination play (2006-2010), the Huskies won the title (2008). Their previous titles came in 2003 and 2004 in a single-elimination format.

Mesquite (29-5) started junior lefty Garrett Jeffries, who has not pitched much this season to due to arm problems. A few innings here and there were all Jeffries threw until Thursday. He pitched much better than his final line -- seven hits, four walks, five strikeouts and seven runs. Six of those runs were unearned. Three of the seven hits came after the second-inning error by Zach Davies on a grond ball with funky spin, but a ball that should have been corraled.

A two-run bloop triple by Derek Hill, and RBI single by Malcolm Holland and a mammoth two-run homer by Mitch Nay made it 6-4 Hamitlon after two frames. All three of those hits came with two strikes and the hitters behind in the count.

Mesquite pulled within 6-5 in the top of third when Spencer Applebach homered off Hamilton starter and winning pitcher Hill. It was the second of three hits on the day for Applebach. Hamilton regained a two-run advantage in the last of the fifth when the Huskies plated a run on a balk.

As pivotal as the second inning was, the sixth may have carried equal weight. Mesquite scored a run on a Davies single to pull within 7-6 and had runners at second and third with one out. A strikeout and fly ball ended the rally at one run against reliever Zak Johnson.

Hamilton went for the kill in their half of the sixth, scoring six times on four hits, another error and a wild pitch. The big blow was a two-run double by catcher Colton Frabisilio that started the onslaught.

"We've played from behind in every game of the tournament," Wood said. "That hit by Colton was huge. He's been our guy a lot this year. I was hoping for a sacrifice fly, but he split the outfielders."

Six different players drove in runs for Hamilton, led by three from Nay. Lane Doty drove in a pair of runs for Mesquite.