Twice as nice: Defending champ Marquette beats Fulton, advances to 1A state finals for second year in a row

DeKALB – The sight of Marquette baseball players throwing their gloves up in excitement and dogpiling on each other in the infield after a championship-clinching postseason win has become a common sight over the past few years.

It was that thought that was running through the back of Marquette sophomore pitcher Griffin Dobberstein’s mind one out away from a victory over Fulton in Monday’s Class 1A DeKalb Supersectional at Northern Illinois University’s Ralph McKinzie Field.

“Oh yeah, I was thinking about it there, but I just had to play the moment down until it happened,” said Dobberstein, a freshman on last season’s state championship team. “Once I saw the ball hit was to [shortstop] Alec [Novotney], I knew we had done it.”

Novotney’s throw was true to first basemen Sam Mitre, and the Crusaders completed a 6-3 win over the Steamers to clinch a second consecutive trip to state.

“I knew what was coming and got out of the way,” Dobberstein said of the impending scrum. “We have too many big guys on this team to be at the bottom of that pile.”

Marquette (33-3) will take on Lexington (20-10) at 10 a.m. in Friday’s semifinals at Illinois Field in Champaign. The Minutemen, who opened the season with a 10-0 loss in six innings to Marquette, defeated Catlin Salt Fork 5-3 at Illinois Wesleyan.

Fulton, which reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015, finished the season at 18-14.

“When you get to this time of the season, you have to be nearly perfect sometimes,” Fulton coach Brent Dykstra said. “A couple little mistakes can cost you a run or two. These guys fought hard today, like they have all season, but sometimes, like today, you had to be extra good.

“Marquette is a very good team, defending state champs, and the pressure was on them. But as you saw that experience in big games makes a difference. We believed we were going to win this game, it just didn’t work out for us, but I couldn’t be prouder of how we competed.”

Mitre’s two-run single off Fulton starting and losing pitcher Dom Kramer in the bottom of the first scored Novotney, who had reached on a bunt single, and Dobberstein, who had walked.

The Crusaders added one in the second on an RBI single by Dobberstein off Steamers reliever Chase Dykstra, who struck out eight in five innings of relief.

Fulton made it 3-2 in the third on a two-run base hit by Dane VanZuiden (2 for 3) off Marquette starting pitcher Anthony Couch (3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K).

“Anthony was pitching pretty well, but he was getting behind some hitters, so we went with Griff, and he was really good,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “Griff held them until we could get a couple more.”

The Crusaders scored two runs in the fifth on a two-run single by Grant Dose to make it 5-2.

Fulton got one back in the sixth on a run-scoring double by Jacob Voss off Dobberstein (Win, 4 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K).

“I was ready if and when I was needed,” Dobberstein said of his relief outing. “I came in with us in the lead, so my job was to keep it that way. I felt like my slider – well, really more of a slurve – was really a pitch I felt confident throwing at any time.”

Marquette closed out the scoring in the sixth when Novotney, who was 3 for 3 and reached on a walk, scored all the way from second on a wild pitch.

The Crusaders ended with a 9-5 hit advantage.

“We hit some balls really hard that ended up in outs and others that we didn’t hit well went for hits,” Hopkins said. “That’s baseball sometimes. But when we needed a big hit the guys came through.”

Mitre said that going through the postseason last year has made a difference mentally for the Crusaders this time around.

“This year, while still nerve-wracking, has been a little easier to deal with after going through a lot of the same [postseason] things last year,” Mitre said. “There is pressure, but I think the guys that went through this last year have taken that experience and used it to our advantage.”