SANTA CLARA >> St. Francis High’s baseball team, coming off a thrilling nine-inning, walk-off win in the Central Coast Section semifinals three days earlier, was greeted with 90-degree temperature, intensified by Santa Clara University’s synthetic-turf field in Friday’s Division IV section final.

Surprisingly, the No. 2 seed Sharks did look like their normal selves at renovated Stephen Schott Stadium.

They were held to one hit and suffered an 8-0 loss to the No. 8 Santa Clara Bruins.

It wasn’t mental exhaustion or fatigue that doomed the Sharks, longtime head coach Ken Nakagawa said. They simply just ran into a darn good pitcher and opponent.

“Give their pitcher credit, I mean, he one-hit us,” Nakagawa said. “What are you going to do? I mean, tip your cap to them. They did a great job; they had a great year. They have 27 wins and three losses; they’ve done something right all year. They’re a heck of a baseball club.

“It wasn’t the best offensive performance we’ve had all year, obviously, but hats off to these guys for grinding out and getting us back here. These seniors are the ones who helped us put up our first (section) title in 2022, and this is the way they finish their career. Not a bad way to finish. You make it back to the finals and you tip your cap to the other team tonight.”

The Bruins (27-3 overall), also the champion of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s El Camino Division, said they were motivated to prove to coaches section-wide that they were better than their seed. They upset No. 1 Carlmont in the first round and No. 5 Branham in the semifinals, both in nine-inning games.

“At first, I think we felt disrespected,” said John Kepner, the Bruins’ senior cleanup hitter. “We were what, 24-3, and we had more wins than any team in the bracket. And they disrespected us because we’re a ‘B’ league team. We wanted to come out and prove ourselves and that’s what we did.”

The Sharks, the fourth-place finisher in the Pacific Coast Athletic League’s powerful Gabilan Division, reached the playoffs for the fourth straight season despite having the smallest enrollment of any school. During that span, they made two section title games, and reached the semifinals three times.

“We had a very iffy season, but we made a run in the playoffs,” said Sharks freshman Noah Magana. “We couldn’t execute the way we wanted, but, it’s alright. … We’ll be back.”

Jacob DaRosa-Fonseca popped out to shortstop to end the game, and the Bruins stormed the field to celebrate their first section title in the sport in the school’s 153-year history. The first section playoffs were held in 1967. Still, Santa Clara waited a long time for this.

With its title win, Santa Clara advances to the upcoming CIF NorCal Regional playoffs.

Understandably, there were plenty of hanging heads in the Sharks’ dugout. St. Francis features eight seniors, including four — Nash Horton, Javier DaRosa-Fonseca, Evan Dyer, and Mason Borrego — who were attempting to close their prep careers the same way they opened it as freshman, as section champs.

Horton, who will compete for Pepperdine University next season, started on the mound for the Sharks (15-15) and stranded five runners over the first four innings.

The teams were locked in a scoreless tie after four frames. Bruins ace Drew Diffenderfer retired hitters at a production-line pace. He retired the first 13 batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until Magana singled in the sixth inning.

“He had some great pitches, slider, sinker, change-up, some really good pitches,” Magana said. “He’d get ahead in the count and punch us out.”

The Bruins broke through for four runs in the top of the fifth. Kepner hit a three-run double to the fence in left center with one out to drive in Zach Gallegos, Jaxton Chao, and Connor Houle. Kepner scored on Charles Conley’s two-out double.

Kepner also shined at third base, he made six putouts over the first four innings.

The outburst was a huge blow to the Sharks, given that they were struggling to get base runners as Diffenderfer coasted through each inning.

“Everything was working today,” Diffenderfer said. “I was trying to work in the zone and everything was working.”

Both teams benefitted from a spacious strike zone created by umpire Jose Arreola, who consistently called strikes on pitches a foot off the outside corner of the plate with right-handed hitters in the box.

“It was generous, for sure.” Diffenderfer said.

Sophomore Nicholas Fantl replaced Horton on the mound in the sixth, and the Bruins, who entered with a .352 team batting average, added to their total.

Gallegos walked, Chao doubled down the right-field line, and Houle followed with an RBI single to drive in Gallegos. Diffenderfer helped his cause with his two-out, bases-loaded single to drive in Chao and Houle.

Santa Clara’s Greg Trujillo singled to lead off the seventh and was lifted for pinch runner Ryan Trujillo, who scored on Houle’s infield single to cap scoring.

The Sharks finished with five base runners total. Fantl broke up Diffenderfer’s perfect game when he reach on an error at shortstop in the fifth. Horton reached on an error at shortstop with two outs in the sixth and Magana followed with a single to left field to break up the no-hitter. Max Madrigal and Dyer drew back-to-back walks with two out in the seventh, but Diffenderfer induced a pop out to shortstop to end the game and the Bruins’ title-less drought.

The Sharks took some time to gather their thoughts and settle their emotions after the loss.

“We won the school’s first-ever CCS title, would’ve loved to win the second today, but it’s baseball,” Horton said. “We left a big impact on the school and nobody can take that away from each and every one of us. That’s what I think we should really focus on. When we look back on our high school career, we may remember this game, but we’ll remember the tiny little things that happened before it.”