Watch: Lowell defeat University 4-0 in CIF Northern California D5 championship baseball game

SAN FRANCISCO — Lowell manager Daryl Semien was thrilled with winning the team's 22nd San Francisco Section title two weeks ago, but admitted it hadn't put a whole game together. 

The Cardinals did so when it counted most, in the CIF Northern California Division 5 playoffs, finished off with Saturday's 4-0 championship win over University at scenic Paul Goode Field in the heart of The Presidio, a rare national park adjacent to the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Semien, the uncle of Rangers' All-Star Marcus Semien, called Thursday's 7-6 semifinal win at top-seed Ripon Christian "1-A" in terms of perfection and Saturday "1-B." 

Under nearly perfect, sunny, 65-degree weather, the Cardinals (18-10) played spotless, errorless defense behind senior starter Jeremy Tam — making his first career start — and ace Finean Hunter-Kenney, who combined to give up four hits while striking out six. 

They got timely hitting Roman Fong and Brandon Liu, who combined for four hits and two RBI, as the fourth-seeded Cardinals took home the state's top prize (regional finals are as far as all teams can go). Aggressive base running — they stole five bases also keyed the win. 

Second-seed University (23-9) played spotless defense themselves in a crisp game that took just over two hours to play. Alex Coleman, Matt Moore, Teddy Molfino and Rohan Hartigan all had singles for University. 

See all the the action in the video above, including a postgame interview with Hunter-Kenney. 

It wasn’t exactly a field of dreams, but it was close. Especially for the visitors from Lowell.

Semien fought back tears after the game as he thought back to the team’s season-ending loss last year at Oracle Park, early struggles this season and the passing of his mother, Peggy, during the pandemic. 

More than 400 fans jammed the facility, and both teams played spotless defense in a clean, crisp 2-hour, 2-minute gem. Second-seeded University (23-9) had fine pitching efforts from Matt Moore and sophomore Sabin Verplaetse, who combined to allow one run over four innings. 

“People didn’t think they could do it after what they went through last year,” Semien said of his team. “The amount of heart and hard work they displayed, getting just a little bit better every day, not putting their head down during adversity, at the end of the day they kept battling.”

Tam, one of four seniors, gave a huge boost with four scoreless innings: “He’s been a quiet leader all year and he wanted the ball today,” Semien said

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Hunter-Kenney is not as quiet, but he was dominating with four strikeouts and one hit allowed.

“That’s Fin being Fin as we like to say,” Semien said of Hunter-Kenney, who Tuesday went the distance and struck out 10 in a first-round 3-0 defeat of Skyline-Oakland. He pitched 6⅔ innings at Oracle against Washington but had to be lifted due to pitch-count rules. 

“We started the season a little rough, but as we got through and started building momentum, I had no doubt we could make it all the way,” Hunter-Kenney said. “It feels amazing to finish a championship game. I really wanted to do it back at Oracle, but I’m glad I got to do it now.”

Asked to describe the emotion of dogpiling near the mound after the final out Saturday, Hunter-Kenney said: “It was pretty much sheer joy. We worked so hard to get here. And we finally got it done.”