There was no dogpile on the mound, no gloves thrown in the air, no wild celebration after the final out.

It wasn’t the victory the Marquette Academy baseball team was hoping for Saturday in the Class 2A IHSA State Finals at Champaign’s Illinois Field, but it was another Crusaders victory.

After an uncharacteristically quiet performance in their state semifinal loss to St. Joe-Ogden the night before, the Cru offense came out swinging Saturday evening with three runs in the home half of the first inning.

It proved to be the difference in Marquette’s 4-1 win over the Freeburg Midgets in Class 2A’s third-place game.

Junior Griffin Dobberstein’s 345-foot home run to left in the first inning that scored both himself and leadoff man Alec Novotney gave Marquette what turned out to be all the runs it would need to bring home the third-place tropy.

“Last night, we didn’t hit a lot,” Dobberstein said. “We had more hits in the first inning today than we had last night. We played with more energy than we did last night, and that’s why we won today. ...

“This win is really big for our seniors. They’ve done a lot for our program, and it’s big to send them out on a win.”

It is the seventh state trophy in Marquette baseball history, the sixth earned over the past eight seasons and the program’s first while competing in Class 2A. The Crusaders – who finish the 2026 season with a record of 38-4 – won Class 1A state championships in 2019, 2024 and 2025.

After Marquette starting pitcher Anthony Couch faced the minimum in the top of the first thanks to an inning-ending double play started by Dobberstein at shortstop, Novotney got the Crusaders going with a first-pitch double that one-hopped the left-field fence. Dobberstein followed with his blast.

“I was looking for a fastball first pitch,” Novotney said of his double, “trying to get one out over the plate. I got it, and I was ready for it. ...

“It’s huge for us as a group and a program getting third place. Obviously it wasn’t where we wanted to end up, but we wanted to go out on a win whether it was a first- or a third-place game.”

A Grant Dose single and stolen base followed by a Caden Durdan seeing-eye RBI single up the middle made it 3-0 Marquette after one inning.

Couch pitched out of jams in both the second and third, and Crusaders cleanup hitter Easton DeBernardi gave him another insurance run to work with with a solo blast just to the left of the 400 sign in center off Midgets starting pitcher Cohen Merrill.

“[Marquette coach Todd Hopkins] told me to slow him down, get my pitch and blast it,” DeBernardi said. “I saw my pitch, took a good swing. I didn’t know it was gone, so I hustled, and then I saw. It felt good off the bat.”

The four runs proved to be plenty for Couch, who pitched 6 ⅓ innings, allowing five hits and four walks, striking out seven and surrendering just one run on a Jonathan Barlow RBI double in the fourth.

Freeburg managed to get the potential tying run on deck in the seventh against Couch’s reliever, DeBernardi, but DeBernardi left him in the on-deck circle with a groundout to Couch at second.

“These third- and fourth-place games, this is the fourth one I’ve been part of, and it’s not the most fun game to play in,” said Hopkins, who has led the Crusaders to all seven of their state trophies. “You never know how they’re going to respond, but, boy, they responded in the first inning, Anthony threw outstanding, and we played pretty solid defense behind him. ...

“I am proud of the kids. They showed they can play in the 2A ranks, but they also showed the heart that they have.”

Merrill – who came in with a sub-1.00 ERA – suffered his first loss of the season, allowing four earned runs on 10 hits, no walks and three strikeouts over 3 ⅔ innings. He settled in, but the rocky start against Marquette’s ready-to-go bats ultimately did him and the Midgets in.

“We knew they were going to be aggressive at the plate,” Freeburg coach Drew Gericke said. “When you know that, you’ve got to hit your spots, and you’ve got to keep the ball down. We didn’t do that the first inning, but then Cohen dialed himself in like he did all year. It’s a state game, first inning, you get the jitters out, and then he settled down and did what Cohen does.”

Freeburg finishes the year 30-11.

“There’s a lot of participation trophies out there,” Gericke said, “but this is not a participation trophy. We deserved and earned to be here.”

Barlow finished with three of Freeburg’s five hits on the day. Dobberstein matched him with three hits for Marquette, with Novotney and Dose contributing two hits apiece to the Cru’s 12-hit attack.

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Baseball - Class 2A State third place: Marquette vs. Freeburg Marquette's Griffin Dobberstein, center, celebrates hitting a two-run homer in the first inning with teammates Alec Novotney, left, and Anthony Couch during the Crusaders' 4-1 victory over Freeburg in the IHSA Class 2A State third-place game on Saturday, June 13, 2026, at the University of Illinois in Champaign. (Tiffany Blanchette)