Live updates recap from Oracle Park: Lincoln shocks Lowell in San Francisco Section baseball championship

After three losses to the Cardinals, Lincoln wins the one that counts over two-time defending champions at San Francisco Giants home field; First title in 20 years, only fourth overall

The national anthem is finished off at beautiful Oracle Park, moments before the 2025 San Francisco Section baseball title game between two-time defending champion Lowell (white uniforms) and Lincoln. / Video by Mitch Stephens

SAN FRANCISCO — It was a largely crisp San Francisco Section championship game at Oracle Park Wednesday, a little over two hours with just five runs scored and eight hits.

But Lincoln's 4-1 victory over Lowell was a long time coming, Mustangs' coach James Burke said, and "the feeling is amazing."

Amazing not only because it was Lincoln's first title since 2005 and only the fourth in school history (the previous two were 1969 and 1970).

It was amazing because it came against the Lords of the Academic Athletic Association/SFS. Lowell had defeated Lincoln eight straight times, including three times this season (4-2, 11-2 and 3-2) and four times last season, including 3-0 in the championship game.

It was amazing because Lowell has won 22 section crowns, including nine of the last 10 played (2020 and 2021 weren't played due to the pandemic), and the Cardinals have dominated Lincoln for more than two decades, winning 51 of the last 59 appearances, including 30 straight from 2006 to 2016.

That made it all the more meaningful to Burke, who graduated from Lowell in 2007, won a title as a player at Oracle, and assisted seven years for legendary coach John Donohue before taking over Lincoln in 2019. His team (16-15) will have a two-week break before opening Northern California regional play. Lowell, the regular season champ at 15-0, finished 21-9.

"The big goal was to build the Lincoln program up," Burke said. "I learned a lot from over there (Lowell) how to build one. It's just awesome to get it done today."

'Do your thing'

A three-run rally in the top of the seventh, keyed by a couple Lowell errors, a controversial call and a two-run single from junior Nicholas Chiu broke a 1-1 tie.

From there it was largely senior right-handed pitcher Branson Derrington, who allowed just three hits and got superb defensive work from many, especially first baseman Wyatt Toloski, who threw out two runners at third base with one out to thwart potential rallies.

Derrington, who allowed just one hit in a 3-2 loss earlier, was determined to finish this one, allowing just two hits after Lowell took a 1-0 lead in the second. He retired eight of the last nine batters, the side in order in the seventh, while striking out four and walking just two.

"I just went out there and competed," he said. "This is crazy. I felt like that was my best (pitching) game of the year. I just needed to win it for the guys and all the coaches. It feels awesome."

It looked pretty awesome after the last out, a fly out to center fielder, the Mustangs celebrated wildly near the mound. Leaping body slams, thrown mitts, hearty group hugs.

"It just felt amazing out there," Derrington said.

Asked what it was like being on a Major League mound having to get just three more outs, Derrington said. "I just had to breathe. Those guys had got me those runs so I had to finish it out. Coaches just told me to do the same thing I had been doing. 'Do your thing.' That's what I did."

Changed call, momentum

Besides a couple of botched plays in the outfield — one ball lost in the sun went for a triple and led to Lowell's only run — the Lincoln defense was stellar. The two Lowell errors in the seventh led to all three unearned runs, including the key one with two out and the bases loaded and the game tied at one.

A slow grounder to short off the bat of Everett Carvalho was thrown a tad wide and first baseman Emerson Sakai stretched wide to catch the ball, causing him to fall. The throw beat Carvalho, but it was hard to tell if Sakai kept his foot on bag.

The first-base ump called Carvaho out, but he immediately looked around the diamond for help. Sakai at first looked to throw to home in case another Lincoln runner was headed home. Lowell then ran off the field when the four-man crew huddled. A minute later, they called Carvalho safe to give Lincoln the 2-1 lead.

Lincoln coach Daryl Semien argued for a minute or two before heading back to the dugout.

"He called him out at first," Semien said after the game. "In myeyes, he was the only guy who could really make that call. He said he got straight-lined and couldn't see it and deferred to the crew and they changed the call. And that definitely took the momentum away from us.

"But that's baseball. Hats off to the crew. It's not an easy job. I've done it myself. I'm not going to ride them for it. We didn't make the plays we normally make and Lincoln made the plays they were supposed to, so I'm not going to dewll on one call either way."

Celebration for the ages

After all the discussion, Chiu, who came into the game with a team-best .333 average and 23 RBI, delivered essentially the knock out blow, a two-run single to right center off tough-luck loser Julian Cook, who gave up five hits, struck out five and walked two.

He gave up a run-scoring single to Aiden Castneda in the fourth after a two-out walk and passed ball. A double by Jeremiah Arriola put runners at second and third, but like both pitchers did all day, he stranded both with a strikeout.

Derrington, meanwhile, got stronger as the game progressed, leading to win, championship and victory celebration for the ages. At least 20 years worth.

"We put a lot of time into this," Burke said. "This is our passion. We love coaching these kids. They give a lot to us and we want to give it back to them. We've done a lot of growing. These guys kept battling. It's a scrappy team and we kept battling to the end. We played our two best games of year and got it done. It's extremely amazing."

Pregame

There's no better way to end the Academic Athletic Association/San Francisco Section season than a trip to Oracle Park.

No, not to watch the hometown Giants, but to actually play in a championship game.

Thanks to the efforts of the Giants' organization, the AAA/SFS title game has been played at either Candlestick Park or Oracle for more than three decades.

Today's games pits mainstay, the Lowell Cardinals (21-8) against the Pesky Lincoln Mustangs (15-15) at 4:30 p.m. or an hour after the final out between the Giants and Diamondbacks, which started their MLB West Division game at 12:30 p.m.

The teams play for a fourth time on Wednesday with Lowell winning the previous three.

Getting to play in a major-league park never gets old, said Lowell head coach Daryl Semien, whose nephew Marcus plays every game in one for the Texas Rangers. 

But since taking over for Hall of Fame coach Jon Donohue in 2016, the Cardinals have won six of seven played at Oracle (2020 and 2021 were canceled by the pandemic), the only loss being a 6-1 setback against Washington in 2022. 

Own identity

Lowell lost nine seniors off that talented group, including six starters, so the Cardinals largely had to re-invent themselves. They are led by senior shortstop-pitcher Angelo Ornelas-Rafael (.447 average, 28 runs, 34 hits, 23 RBIs) and second baseman Reggie Fong (.413, 17 stolen bases, 27 runs, 21 RBIs). 

“It was a special group of seniors last year, but these guys created their own identity, and has been competitive in almost every game,” Semien said.

The pitching has been stout as well, led by the trio of Ornelas-Rafael (3-0, 0.00 ERA), junior Julian Cook (8-3, 1.01) and sophomore Luc Laguna (5-1, 3.23).

Semien wouldn’t reveal who will start Wednesday, seeming more concerned with Lincoln senior starter Branson Derrington, who limited Lincoln to one hit with seven strikeouts in the May 1 matchup.  

Lincoln junior catcher Nicholas Chiu (.338, 21 runs, 21 RBIs) is another worry for Semien, as is Mustangs’ coach James Burke, a Lowell graduate and former assistant coach for the Cardinals.  

"Lincoln is tough and scrappy, and they don’t love Lowell," Semien said. "It should be a really fun battle between longtime city rivals.” 

Check back here for live updates throughout the game

Game time

The Diamondbacks’ 8-7 win over the Giants didn’t end to nearly 4 p.m., thus it’s 5:03 and game is still about five minutes from starting. Beautiful late afternoon/early evening for a game. Both teams have been introduced. Game will be starting inside 2-3 minutes.

LIVE SCORING

1st inning

Lincoln: First pitch at 5:16 p.m., 63 degrees and Lincoln gets a one-out single by Everett Carvalho is sandwiched between two pop outs and a fly out. Starting Lowell pitcher Julian Cook sharp, throwing nothing but strikes. No runs, one hit, one left.

Lowell: After Reggie Wong drills ball deep to right caught by Santino Villasenor and Cecil Reed grounded out, Angelo Ornelas-Rafael walked and Cook singled him to second. After a wild pitch moved both runners up, Auden Szalva grounded out to second baseman Jeremiah Arriola. No runs, one hit, two left.

2nd inning

Lincoln: Wyatt Toloski leads off with a single moves to third on a sacrifice and groundout, but Cook strikes out Villasenor to end the threat. No runs, 1 hit, 1 left.

Lowell: Emerson Sakai leads off with a shot to center field that is lost in the sun by center fielder Xavier Malizia. It goes for a triple. After a strikeout, Luc Laguna walks and steals second before Johnathan Ronquillo hit a slow roller to first base that went off the glove of Toloski. Second baseman Jeremiah Arriola picked up the ball and dove to the first-base bag for the out. By that time Sakai scored to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. Arriola laid on the bag for several minutes before getting up on his own. He left the field and was replaced. After another walk and stolen base, Derrington struck out Reed to strand two more runners. One run, one hit, 2 left. Lowell 1, Lincoln 0

4th inning

Lincoln: With two out, Wyatt Toloski walked, took second on a passed ball and scored on a line single to right-center by Aiden Castaneda. Arriola, who re-entered the game, doubled Castaneda to third, but has been the case throughout, two more runners were left in scoring position as Cook struck out pinch-hitter Dexter Palmer. One run, two hits, two left. Lincoln 1, Lowell 1

5th inning

Pitchers taking charge. Lincoln goes 1-2-3 against Cook, Derrington gives up a one-out single to Reed, but gets a fly out and strikeout to end the frame. Lincoln 1, Lowell 1.

6th inning

LOWELL: With one out, Sakai singled and was balked to second but for the second time, Lincoln first baseman Toloski threw out a runner at third. He field a bunt by Mateo Bataan and threw out Sakai at third to essentially end the threat. Going to the seventh all knotted up. Lincoln 1, Lowell 1.

7TH INNING

LINCOLN: An error, walk and hit batsman loads the bases with two outs, when Carvallo grounded slowly to shortstop to Ornelas-Rafael, whose throw to first was wide. First baseman Sakai caught the ball but fell over. The umpire apparently called out for the third out, but then huddled with the other umpires, who ruled Sakai had taken his foot off the bag to give Lincoln 2-1 lead. Chou followed with a two-run single to right center and now Lincoln has three outs to win the title. Lincoln 4, Lowell 1.

This crazy play gives Lincoln 2-1 lead over Lowell when umpire rules first baseman foot was off bag. Onky after conference with other umpires. Nicholas Chiu followed with two-run single. Lincoln leads 4-1. Two out top of seventh. Watch entire sequence. pic.twitter.com/7c2NoqLkzY

— Mitch Stephens (@MitchBookLive) May 15, 2025

LOWELL: Derrington enduces pop out and two flies to center fielder to end it. FINAL: Lincoln 4, Lincoln 1

Final. Lincoln 4, Lowell 1. San Francisco section championship at Oracle Park. Great complete game 3-hitter for Branson Derrington. Great celebration! pic.twitter.com/EfHQn2uzNv

— Mitch Stephens (@MitchBookLive) May 15, 2025