A mid-season battle between Hamilton and Mesquite for bragging rights in 5A-I baseball on Thursday afternoon pretty much boiled down to one player.

"This was all about Zach Davies," Hamilton coach Mike Woods said.

True enough. Davies tamed Hamilton on five hits and got offensive support from several quarters as Mesquite topped the host Huskies, 7-1.

Mesquite improved to 14-1 on the season and won its 10th game in a row. Hamilton dropped to 11-3, but fell prey to a standout hurler in Davies.

"He's a great pitcher, athlete and baseball player," Woods said. "He was really good. He has three plus pitches. He's tough on hitters.  I thought we battled pretty good at the plate, but he's just good."

Mesquite scored in five of the seven innings and had five players drive in runs.Garrett Jeffries stroked a pair of hits and had two RBIs and Spencer Applebach drove in two runs with a seventh-inning single. Lane Doty, Nick Rosales and Matt Poterson (solo homer) drove in a run each.

"I think there were some extra juices flowing in this one," Mesquite coach Jeff Holland said. "Zach was hitting his spots and our catcher (Tate Freeman) called a heck of  a game. ...We've played them before in big games. We got lucky both times last year. Played well today."

The inning that hurt Hamilton the most was the fifth when Mesquite added two runs to its then 3-1 lead. An error on what might have been a double-play ball, a fielder's choice on a bunt that secured no out kept the Wildcats at-bat longer than they should have. As a result, they tallied two unearned runs.

Davies, a senior and in his fourth varsity season, helped himself  in the third and fourth innings by picking off a runner at second in each. The only run he allowed was on a solo homer in the second by Parker Osborne.

Hamilton used its top two pitchers -- Zak Johnson and Jake Andrews. Johnson took the loss going four-plus innings as the starter. They combined to allow 10 hits and five earned runs.