Two teams that looked the part of top-eight Division I baseball teams gathered Saturday morning at Chase Field.

That's Hamilton and Mesquite. On display was pitching and defense and Hamilton enjoyed the edge along with a back-breaking two-run rally in the seventh that led to a 3-0 win over Mesquite.

Hamilton ran its season record to 20-7 overall and is now 12-5 in power-point games. That's good enough to situate the Huskies in the top eight. They have one game left next week with Casa Grande. Teams in the top eight earn a bye to the second round at state and avoid the single-elimination first-round. Mesquite (20-7, 13-4) remains in the top eight as well with a final game next week against Mountain Ridge.

"That's how a lot of our games have gone this season," Hamilton coach Mike Woods said. "Tight games, not a ton of runs. (Patrick) Murphy pitched great."

Murphy, a junior right-hander, went the distance tossing a three-hitter as the game's standout. He struck out five, walked two and got nine ground outs. He improved his season's mark to 5-1. Until a two-out single to center in the seventh by Mesquite's Brad Holland, Murphy had yielded  two scratch infield hits.

While not as dominating as Murphy, Mesquite starter Tanner Wilson kept his team in the game the entire way. He pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowed seven hits and struck out six. Wilson issued his only walk with two outs in the top of the seventh. He followed that by surrendering a two-strike single to No. 9 hitter Connor Woods.

Mesquite coach Jeff Holland brought on senior Garrett Jeffries to get the final out. Jeffries, however, walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. Completing the two-out rally for Hamilton was catcher Kyle Pechloff, who whacked a 1-2 pitch for a single to center to bring home a pair of insurance runs. Hamilton had eight hits in the game, one from every player in its lineup but Garret Enwiller. Enwiller, however, drove in the only run of the game before Pechloff's hit with a sacrifice fly.

The game's first run in the fourth was manufactured. Hamilton's Cody Bellinger led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Back-to-back deep fly balls at Chase Field -- likely home runs at high school fields -- combined to plate Bellinger.

Defensively, Bellinger turned in a pair of nice plays. He picked a low throw from shortstop Trent Goodrich with two outs in the fourth with the tying run rounding third. In the sixth Bellinger dove to his right to glove a sharp grounder by Jeffries and threw from the ground in time for the out at first.

In the seventh, Hamilton right fielder Skyler Palermo made a running stab in the right-field corner at the fence to rob Casey Howard of extra bases. Mesquite's only solid hit of the game followed immediately after that catch.

Mesquite third baseman Ozzie Rodriguez cut down a run in the third to keep the game scoreless at the time. He fielded a sharply hit ball down the line moving to his right. He planted and made a strong, quick  throw home to nail Tyler Hill at home.