Little, Bishop Gorman trip defending state champion Liberty

Bishop Gorman right-hander Jack Little made just one mistake Saturday, allowing a two-run homer to Liberty’s Nick Rush in the sixth inning.

Other than that, the 6-foot-4-inch, 180-pound junior was nearly perfect in six innings.

Little struck out five and gave up three hits on 59 pitches to lead the host Gaels to a 4-2 win over the defending state champion Patriots (5-2). Zach Grech got the save for Gorman (2-0) after getting three consecutive Liberty batters to ground out in the seventh.

“He did phenomenal,” Gorman coach Gino DiMaria said of Little. “Every so often a pitcher is going to make a mistake and you hope you don’t get caught on. He got caught on with that (home run), but overall, he dominated the game. He kept us in it. We hit, but not consistently. And on days like that, you’ve got to hope your pitching steps up and your defense backs him up.”

After surrendering a first-inning double to Liberty’s Preston Pavlica, Little retired 13 consecutive batters. He threw a combined 12 pitches in the second and third innings, and finished with zero walks.

“My defense today was just incredible,” Little said. “It’s good to know when your defense is working that well behind you, you have no problem throwing strikes and pounding the zone. (Liberty) put the ball in play, but you knew it was going to be an out, no matter what.”

Gorman’s Matt Hudgins scored the game’s first run in the second on a wild pitch by starter Trevor Mullaney. Hudgins had doubled to center and advanced to third on a passed ball.

In the third, Cadyn Grenier took a 3-1 pitch over the left-center wall to push Gorman’s lead to 2-0. Beau Capanna followed with a double and a steal, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Wulff.

“We’re fortunate to have a lot of speed,” DiMaria said. “We try to get ourselves into position where we can get the deep fly ball or hit the opposite way to get that run in. We work on that a lot in practice.”

Jonny Gilleres started the Patriots’ rally in the sixth with a one-out single and scored on Rush’s homer to left.

“It was one of the only mistakes I made all game,” Little said. “I got beat inside. But late in the game, I should’ve gone away from him, because if I’m going to get beat, I better not get beat with a home run. And a fastball inside is a pitch to hit a home run on.”

Gorman completed the scoring in the bottom of the inning. Brad Doerpinghaus was hit by a pitch, went to third on a single by Daniel Edson and scored on a wild pitch.

Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow him on Twitter: @af_ferguson.