Berlin — Even before the game started Tuesday night, Marty Gomez knew his team was facing the best pitcher his team had seen all season, alluding to Haddam-Killingworth senior right-hander Liam Gordon.

“We scouted them and the reports were that he was pretty good,” Gomez said, not long after witnessing it personally. “He’s not even their ace. That’s scary. We couldn’t figure him out.”

Gordon pitched 5.2 no-hit innings and struck out 13, leading third-seeded H-K to the Class S title game for the sixth time in program history, defeating Lyman Memorial, 4-0, in the state semifinals at Sage Park.

Gordon’s counterpart, Alex Ortiz, erased the no-hitter with a two-out single in the sixth.

“He’s 7-1 and he’s been in control most of the season,” H-K coach Mark Brookes said. “Sometimes, he’ll struggle in a specific inning. We’re hoping he can maintain it. So far, he certainly has.”

H-K, which left the bases loaded in the first and another runner aboard in the second, took a 2-0 lead in the third when Dylan Coon hit a two-out, two-run double to deep center. H-K extended the lead in the fifth on Jackson Pray’s two-run single.

And now Brookes, in his fifth decade coaching H-K baseball, goes to his sixth state title game. The Cougars are 0-5.

“This is a really good group of kids,” Brookes said. “Good leadership. They like each other. You’ve got to be so good just to get to this spot.”

When asked if he could coach the championship game without thinking of the other five losses, Brookes said, “It’s about the kids, not me. Plus, I’ll be around for a few more.”

Meanwhile, Gomez and the 10th-seeded Bulldogs were resurgent in the second half of the season, particularly after Dominic Pontbriant, who was the winning pitcher in Saturday’s quarterfinal, joined the team. Pontbriant sat the first 10 games, per the CIAC transfer rule.

“We started slow, but obviously things got better when Dominic was eligible,” Gomez said. “He was a big part of it for sure. But so were the other kids who held it together until he got back.”

H-K will play fourth-seeded Coventry in the finals.

m.dimauro@theday.com