After winning back-to-back state titles in Class 1A, the Marquette baseball teams is now three wins away from a Class 2A crown.

After putting up 15 runs on 15 hits and four home runs in Wednesday’s IHSA Class 2A Herscher Sectional semifinal against IC Catholic, the Crusaders (36-3) racked up 16 hits, including two more homers, in an 11-2 win over Wilmington (25-7-1) in Saturday’s sectional championship.

It’s the program’s 11th sectional title overall and third in 2A, joining titles in 2021 and 2014. The Crusaders will play Monday in the St. Bede supersectional.

“I just think we’re resilient and confident in the guys we’ve got,” starting pitcher and leadoff hitter Alec Novotney said. “We did it the last two years in 1A, and this year we’ve played some better teams, but it’s just us having confidence that we can go beat anybody we play.”

After a Griffin Dobberstein double, Easton Debernardi got the scoring started for the Crusaders with a two-run home run deep to left in the top of the first.

Wilmington responded with two runs in the bottom half after Ryan Kettman and Dierks Geiss got to second and third to start the inning, with Kettman scoring on a wild pitch and Geiss scoring on a groundout from Zach Ohlund.

Novotney said he didn’t feel like he had his best stuff, but still managed to keep the Wildcats off the scoreboard from there, allowing just six hits in seven innings with six strikeouts.

In the fourth, Marquette’s Beau Thompson drew a bases-loaded walk to break the 2-2 tie and Novotney followed with a two-run double.

Braxton Nelle had an RBI single in the fifth and Grant Dose had a three-run double in the sixth ahead of an RBI double from Caden Durdan. Dobberstein drilled a solo home run in the seventh to close the scoring.

Dobberstein, who also went deep Wednesday, said the team’s bats seem to be heating up as the season winds down.

“In the regional we were cold and had six hits both games,” he said. “Our bats kind of woke up. It helps that this fence is a little shorter than we’ve been playing and the wind was blowing out a little bit, but we had good swings. Through the first three innings today we probably had eight barrels.”

All nine starters had a hit for the Crusaders, and while the top of the order did plenty of damage, the bottom of the order came through again as well.

No. 7 hitter Jaxsen Higgins was 2 for 4 with a double after homering in the semis. The No. 9 hitter Thompson, after having two RBIs and two runs in the semis, was 1 for 3 with his RBI walk.

No. 8 hitter Braxton Nelle was the only starter without a hit on Wednesday, but was 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run Saturday.

His hardest hit ball of the day was actually a flyout to the warning track in the sixth, but he said he’s always happy to just get on base, no matter how hard he hits the ball or it hits him.

“I’m really just trying to find ways to get on, and I’ve got 18 hit-by-pitches this year, so that’s working for me too,” he said. “It’s pretty much just anything I can do for the guys. [Thompson] has been on a tear lately too, so he’s hitting me over.”

With the Crusaders looking for three more wins to secure the program’s fourth state title, head coach Todd Hopkins said the depth the lineup has been showcasing makes them tough to beat.

“That makes us really good,” he said. “They’ve been doing a great job all year and we’ve just got to continue it. We’re going to have a tough one obviously on Monday.

“We’ve just got to go compete Monday and give ourselves a chance.”

Wilmington had its season come to an end shy of its third straight sectional title.

Seniors Kettman, Ohlund, Geiss, Evan Kuypers, Logan Murphy, Caius Drown, Bobby Phillips and Reagan Jandura had their careers come to an end.

Four-year varsity players Kettman, who was 2 for 3 with a run and pitched the first five innings, and Ohlund, who was 1 for 3 with an RBI, were around for 94 wins in their careers, the most in a four-season span in 20 years.

“It’s a tight-knit group and they made life easy for us all year,” head coach Mike Bushnell said. “They do all the little things and looking back, these guys made a lot of lifelong memories together.

“It’s a phenomenal senior class. Three straight sectional championship appearances is something to hang your hat on. This group is going to be missed.”

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 28

Baseball - Class 2A Herscher Sectional championship: Marquette vs. Wilmington Marquette's Grant Dose celebrates hitting a three-run double during Marquette's 11-2 victory over Wilmington in the IHSA Class 2A Herscher Sectional championship on Saturday, June 6, 2026. (Tiffany Blanchette)