Marquette and IC Catholic Prep traded leads back and forth and were deadlocked after three innings in Wednesday’s Class 2A Herscher Sectional baseball semifinal.

In the top of the fourth, the Crusaders grabbed the momentum and lead for good.

Marquette junior Griffin Dobberstein blasted a two-run homer to left center off IC’s Anthony Urso before the Crusaders exploded for 10 runs over the final three innings in an eventual 15-3 victory over the Knights.

“I was a little under and a little late on the fastball on the first pitch,” Dobberstein said. “I was looking for a changeup on the next pitch and I got it. He had just gotten Alec [Novotney] out on it in the same kind of sequence right before me.

“I don’t feel like I put the greatest swing on it, I was a little early, but I was able to get in the air. I got just enough barrel on it and I think the wind helped a little too.”

It was one of 15 hits and four home runs for Marquette (35-3), which advances to play Wilmington, a 6-2 winner over Manteno in the second semifinal, for the championship at 10 a.m. Saturday.

IC Catholic Prep finished the season at 15-19-1.

“Griffin’s homer and then us being able to shut them down in the in the bottom half of the inning was big,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “In these [postseason] games a lot of times the momentum can swing five, six, seven times and you have to be able to let any mistakes you make go in a hurry and move on.

“The kids are playing really well right now and were really locked in today. We had a couple things early on that didn’t go our way, but they stayed positive and just kept playing.”

Marquette took the lead in the first on an RBI single by Grant Dose off Knights’ starter Manny Deoudes (loss, 2⅔ IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 0 K), while Camilo Colombari’s run-scoring base hit in the bottom half of the frame off Crusaders’ starter Anthony Couch tied the game.

IC scored on an error in the second, but Marquette tied the game on a solo homer to left center by Couch and led 3-2 after an RBI single by Caden Durdan. The Knights made it 3-3 after three innings on an RBI base hit by Deoudes.

After Dobberstein’s blast made it 5-3, he entered the game in relief and didn’t allow a hit, striking out six over the next three innings.

“I was really just going with my fastball and moving it around the zone,” Dobberstein said. “I didn’t really have to go with many off-speed pitches, especially after we added on some runs in the fifth. From there it was just get ahead and pound the strike zone.”

Marquette scored four runs in the fifth to truly take control. Braxton Nelle was hit by a pitch from Evan Madrigal with the bases loaded, Beau Thompson lined a two-run single down the right field line and Novotney smacked an RBI single to center.

Jaxsen Higgins ripped a solo home run to left center in the sixth, and in a five-run seventh, Dobberstein’s RBI double was followed two batters later by a towering grand slam homer to right off the bat of Easton Debernardi.

Debernardi struck out two in seventh to close things out.

Novotney and Grant Dose each had three hits for the Crusaders, while Dobberstein, Debernardi and Thompson each had two hits. Couch (3 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) earned the win on the mound.

Deoudes finished with two of the Knights’ four hits.

“We battled even with them through the first three innings, but [Dobberstein’s] homer in the fourth was a big momentum shift,” said IC Catholic Prep coach Dan Mustari, who announced he’ll be retiring after 17 seasons. “[Marquette] can really hit the ball all through their lineup. They don’t get cheated. They adjusted to whatever kind of pitcher we threw out there and that’s one of the reasons they won back-to-back [Class 1A] state titles.

“We battled all the way, but overall, we just made way too many mistakes, mistakes you just can’t make and expect to win at this time of the season.”