WORCESTER — Austin Houlihan shook off some early nerves and then dealt a masterpiece.
The right-hander walked three of the game’s first five batters, but only allowed three baserunners the rest of the way to help Pope John Paul II claim its first state title by beating Hopkins Academy, 4-0, in the Division 4 baseball final at Holy Cross’ Fitton Field.
After loading the bases with Golden Eagles in the first inning, Houlihan escaped by striking out Andrew Omer for the third out.
Houlihan finished with four walks and seven strikeouts and allowed just one hit, a third-inning single by Hopkins Academy’s Evan Delaney.
“I didn’t really have my best stuff, but I finally settled down,” said Houlihan, who threw 86 pitches in the complete-game victory for the Lions (27-1). “I figured out that once I had to throw strikes, my defense was going to make all the plays.”
Houlihan retired 12 straight Golden Eagles from the third inning into the seventh.
PJP batters made things easier on their pitcher by scoring in the bottom of the first. Matt Santos bounced a one-out double down the line in left and came around to score on a two-out single to center by Collin Russell.
“The bigness of the moment, you have to get through those first couple of innings, and then we settled down nicely,” Lions coach Mark Santos said. “It was nice to get on top early. We’ve been fighting from behind almost all tournament, so it was good to get up and play with a lead.”
While the Hadley-based Golden Hawks (14-10) were unable to breakthrough in the first when Houlihan was issuing free passes, PJP was more than willing to cash in when Omer, who started for Hopkins Academy, had a bout of wildness in the third, loading the bases on walks. With one out, Kevin Marsh lined a shot toward the shortstop hole and Delaney made a diving catch going to his right, but in his attempt to double Ben Gibson off second, he threw wildly into right field and Santos trotted home from third.
The Lions made it 3-0 in the fifth as Gibson opened the inning with a single, stole second and scored on a Mike Young single.