The Marquette baseball team struggled to much going against St. Joseph-Ogden senior right-hander Asher Pruemer during Friday’s IHSA Class 2A State semifinal at Illinois Field in Champaign

The Crusaders managed only four hits against Pruemer, who didn’t allow an earned run, walked one and struck out six.

Meanwhile St. Joseph-Ogden scored twice in the bottom of the first, added single runs in the third and fourth before plating two more in the fifth in an eventual 6-1 victory over Marquette.

“I thought we had some really good swings and squared some balls up against [Pruemer] in the first two innings,” Marquette coach Todd Hopkins said. “But give him a ton of credit, after that, he really buckled down and really pitched well with the lead. We had a couple hard-hit balls in the last couple of innings but they were right at them.

“He really kept the ball down and did a good job of mixing things up. That kid pitched a heckuva game. He’d did what we’ve been doing to teams”

Marquette (37-4) will now face Freeburg (30-10) in the third-place game at 4 p.m. back at Illinois Field. SJO (39-2) will take on Harvest-Westminster (28-7) in the championship contest at 7 p.m.

The Spartans scored two runs in the first off Marquette senior starter Alec Novontey. Logan Rosenthal led off with the double to the gap in right center and later scored on a wild pitch. Finn Miller’s two-out RBI triple to center made it 2-0.

Marquette scored its only run in the top of the second. Jaxsen Higgins reached on a fielder’s choice after a leadoff single by Caden Durdan. Higgins moved to third on a two-strike single by Braxton Nelle and scored on a sacrifice fly to right off the bat of Beau Thompson.

“We actually started scouting [Marquette’s] hitters six weeks ago,” St. Joseph-Ogden coach Josh Haley said. “We saw what we might be up against if we got here but we also had a really good idea of how we wanted to pitch them. I thought we had a good plan coming in, but we really didn’t execute it the first two innings and got away with some hard contact.

“But then Asher had a really solid third inning, and I thought from that point really settled in. For him to hold that lineup, which is very solid from top to bottom, to what he did was outstanding.

“The goal offensively was to focus on putting the ball in play. [Novotney] is an outstanding pitcher, but we felt like if we could get some runners on that would allow us a chance to be aggressive on the basepaths. Getting two runs right away in the first inning was a huge confidence boost and it allowed everyone to relax.”

SJO scored a run on a wild pitch in the third, a run in the fourth on a RBI groundout by Parker Fitch after a one-out error, and two in the fifth on a wild pitch and sac fly by Trevor Ames.

Pruemer (11-0) retired 15 of the final 18 batters he faced, including a trio on called-third strikes, and finished throwing 68 of his 89 pitches for strikes.

Novotney (8-2) went five innings allowing seven hits, two earned runs, while walking one. and striking out three. Anthony Couch came on to pitch the sixth and walked one and struck out one.

“I thought Alec pitched a great game, as well,” Hopkins said. “We made a few too many mistakes, but he really battled to keep us within striking distance. When you get here you have to play, for the most part, mistake free baseball and we didn’t do that and they took advantage of it. That’s what great teams do.”

Nelle finished with two of the Crusaders four hits, while Novotney had a double.

“It just wasn’t meant to be tonight,” Hopkins said. “It’s [St. Joseph-Odgen’s] time, and you just have to tip your cap to them. I’d be shocked if they don’t win [Saturday] because they have a very, very good ball club.

“Now we’ll show up here [Saturday] and try and win game and finish the season on a positive. This group if full of competitive kids, so I don’t need to say much, they’ll come here [Saturday] focused and ready to go.”

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Baseball - Class 2A State semifinal: Marquette vs. St. Joseph-Ogden Marquette's Griffin Dobberstein leaps for a throw at second as St. Joseph-Ogden's Kipton Rosenthal steals during the Crusaders' 6-1 loss to St. Joseph-Ogden in the IHSA Class 2A State semifinals on Friday, June 12, 2026, at the University of Illinois in Champaign. (Tiffany Blanchette)