SAN JOSE >> Senior right-hander Evan Dyer pitched the game of his life to buy St. Francis High’s offense some time on the baseball diamond in the Central Coast Section playoffs Tuesday. Inning after inning after inning … an exorbitant amount of time.

The Sharks’ bats finally came through in the bottom of the ninth inning, and helped them to advance to their third section championship game in school history.

Mason Borrego scored from third base on Javier DaRosa Fonseca’s ground ball to shortstop with two outs as the ball was errantly thrown to first base and the No. 2 seed Sharks gleefully celebrated a 1-0, walk-off win over No. 6 Homestead in the Division IV semifinals at Excite Ballpark, home of the San Francisco Giants’ Single-A affiliate.

“Super happy for the team,” Fonseca said. “We found a way to win a ball game today. It wasn’t pretty at times, but we found a way to make it work.”

The Sharks streamed from their dugout to celebrate and when they saw Borrego beeline it toward Fonseca, now halfway down the right field line. The Sharks followed in tow and eventually formed a jumping mass of joy.

The Sharks (15-14), the fourth-place finisher in the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s Gabilan Division, face No. 8 Santa Clara (26-3) in Friday’s title game at Santa Clara University at 5 p.m.

“It’s a family,” Dyer said. “It’s never just a single person on this team. It’s everyone. It takes everybody, the bench, everybody.”

The Bruins, the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s El Camino Division champion, scored four runs in the ninth inning to sneak past No. 5 Branham 11-7 in the other semifinal. The Bruins also played nine innings in their 5-4 upset of No. 1 Carlmont in the quarterfinals.

It was another stinging loss for Homestead, which lost 10-3 to Mountain View in the 2024 CCS D-IV final.

“It does sting a lot,” said Travis Sunseri, the Mustangs’ coach. “I think this hurts more than last year, when we lost in the final. This year, it came down to the last pitch.”

Dyer proved to be a workhorse in his complete-game win over the Mustangs. He gave up five hits, including two with two out in the ninth inning, didn’t issue any walks and recorded eight strikeouts. His final strikeout ended the ninth and was celebrated with fervor. He finished with 109 pitches.

“He was good,” Sunseri said. “He mixed pitches. He was able to keep us off-balance. He attacked early and got into his plus counts for himself. We just had to grind at-bats. He was a very good pitcher.”

Dyer also made a charging, diving catch on a bunt from Drew Hamburger in the seventh inning.

“Obviously, Dyer tonight was absolutely outstanding,” said Sharks coach Ken Nakagawa.

Dyer impressed himself. “My mind is everywhere right now,” he said. ‘It was crazy. All four years, I’ve never experienced this.”

The Mustangs had just three base runners reach second base. Each time it was Andrew Sun, who got into scoring position in the first, seventh and ninth innings.

The Sharks, who hit into double plays in the first and fifth innings, didn’t fare any better. In fact, only one runner, Max Madrigal, reached second base over the first eight innings.

Sun, a senior right-handed pitcher, started and gave up three hits and struck out three batters over five scoreless innings. That’s when Sunseri revealed an ace up his sleeve and threw the Sharks a curveball. He brought in senior right-hander Logan Christianson, who proved to me more than a one-trick pony.

Christianson baffled the Sharks by throwing out of multiple arm slots — three-quarter, sidearm, and submarine — for the majority of his relief appearance.

Sharks right fielder Nash Horton said friend Kaleb Wing of Scotts Valley gave him a detailed scouting report on the Mustangs and Christianson, and Horton relayed it to his teammates, but, perhaps they didn’t let the details sink in, because several Sharks said they were rattled by Christianson’s deliveries.

Christianson gave up one hit and one unearned run with five strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings.

“That’s how people hit off him, it’s soft contact,” Sunseri said. “He very rarely gets hit hard.”

Borrego singled on an 0-2 pitch to lead off in the Sharks’ final at-bat and stole second. Noah Magana fouled off multiple pitched with two strikes against him before moving Borrego to third base on his groundout. That set the stage for Fonseca, who was 0-for-3 batting when he stepped to the plate.

He didn’t make the contact he desired when he hit a grounder to shortstop, but the result was glorious.

Said Fonseca, on running to first: “I knew I was getting there. I’m fast. I just gave it all I had in that last moment right there. That’s probably the fastest I’ve ever run in my life.”

Borrego added: “He (Fonseca) hits one, right to short, and I’m thinking ‘Oh, boy,’ On contact I was running straight home, fast as I could. I was thinking, ‘Oh, boy, he’s gotta run fast too, just as fast as me.’ I stepped on home, looked, and see the first baseman bobbles the ball. I throw my helmet, and we go celebrate. … One more, one more.”

Nakagawa knew it was now or never in the ninth.

“Once Mason got on, we felt like we had the right part of our order up that we wanted up, the guys who have gotten it done all year,” Nakagawa said. “We talked about maybe bunting there. But, obviously, we got our guy we want up (Horton), we had our one-two-three guys. What more do want? You got your best three guys who have been doing it all year. Why change anything? A ball in the gap with Mason on first wins the ball game. So that’s kinda what we were thinking. It ended up working itself out.”

The Sharks are seeking their second CCS championship in four years. They beat Carmel 4-2 for the D-IV title in 2022, when Borrego, Dyer, Fonseca, and Horton were freshmen on the team.

“This park holds a lot of good memories, and now, just adding one more,” Borrego said. “That’s a special moment.”

Monterey 4, Harbor 1

MONTEREY >> Joey Raffo singled and scored on Noah Solano’s RBI double in the sixth inning of the Pirates’ CCS D-V semifinal loss at Sollecito Park on Tuesday.

Harbor gave up three runs in the first and trailed 4-0 through five innings.

The Pirates, who finished with five hits and two walks, left the base loaded twice. Coach Joseph Allegri said a pair of blown calls “took us out of each inning.”

“Great game, just couldn’t get the clutch hit,” Allegri said. “It was a tough way to end the season, playing against Monterey and the umpires. I would have loved to see what the games outcome would have been with the right calls. The only reason I’m not happy with the umpires is that I looked at our video of the game and both calls were blown.

“Other than that, I’m very proud of the guys and how we still competed. Great season, winning 16 games and making the CCS playoffs for the fourth year in a row, which is a school record.”

Raffo finished with two hits for the Pirates (16-13), the fourth-place finisher in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League. Liam Nunes had a hit.

Sophomore Gino Grammatico doubles and had two RBI for the Toreadores (12-17) the fifth-place finisher in the PCAL’s Gabilan Division.

Senior Luke Miramontes earned the complete-game win. He struck out nine batters and walked two.

Naiche Fish pitched one inning and took the loss.

Monterey faces either No. 5 Piedmont Hills or No. 1 Menlo in Thursday’s championship at Excite Ballpark. The time is TBA.