Queen Creek looked the part of a 5A baseball state-title contender while putting the hammer down on Williams Field and what appear to be its flickering playoff hopes.

The Bulldogs took advantage of everything offered it by the Black Hawks on Wednesday afternoon on the way to an easy 12-2 triumph in a San Tan Region game at Queen Creek.

Queen Creek moved within one win of nailing down the San Tan Region title, improving to 6-1 in the region while winning its sixth game in a row. That's a game-and-a-half better than second place Mesquite (4-2). Queen Creek is 23-4 overall and solidified its No. 6 standing in the 5A power rankings at 12-4.

Williams Field, has played a little better since a spring break tournament -- enough in the last month to have a shot at postseason. The Black Hawk, dropped to 7-18, 5-11 prg. That was good enough to sit at No. 24 in the power rankings -- the final spot to qualify for a play-in game. In 5A, however,  the 24th slot may not be good enough to secure a berth. It may take as high as No. 22 as other region champs below 24 could bump teams higher.

A bad day at the office for Williams Field began in the first inning. It committed three errors and wild-pitched home two of three runs. Queen Creek chipped in with two singles, neither struck well for the 3-0 lead.

Williams Field bounced back looking to make a game of it with three hits and two runs in the top of the second. Justin Vaught and Tyler Quinn had hits and scored thanks to RBI from Nick Cupp and Kade Gormely. Bu the game got away bigtime in the bottom of the inning.

Queen Creek struck for five runs on one hit in the frame -- a two-run single by Jacob Berry. The inning was aided by three hit batters, three walks and another run crossed the plate via a wild pitch. The Bulldogs added four more runs the next two innings allowing it to end in the fifth thanks to the 10-run rule.

The winning pitcher was Jacob Ayala, who gave up no hits other than those in the second inning. Ayala threw all five innings, walked two and fanned two. Colby Kobernick led Queen Creek 's offense with three RBI, two on a single and the other on a sacrifice fly. The Bulldogs finiished with seven hits, one each from seven of its starters.

Williams Field used five pitchers and appeared to try and save its pitching for the next two days when they host Queen Creek again (Thursday) and visit Maricopa (Friday) to conclude the season.