Marshall baseball routs Denfeld 18-1 for second straight win

After the teams’ first scheduled meeting was postponed, Duluth Marshall turned the rematch in Hermantown into a statement, rolling past Duluth Denfeld 18-1 in five innings and showing the kind of early offensive depth that can reshape a season in St. Louis County.

The game was scoreless through the first inning, but Marshall took control immediately after that. A six-run second inning opened the floodgates, with defensive miscues helping extend the frame and Aaden Westerbur and Junior Lucero delivering hits that pushed the Hilltoppers in front for good. Marshall added another run in the third, then buried Denfeld with 11 more runs across the final two innings to end the game early and secure its second straight victory.

The margin mattered because it was not built on one swing or one inning alone. Marshall kept pressure on Denfeld from the second inning on, turning mistakes into runs and making the game feel out of reach long before the fifth inning ended. In a short high school baseball season, a performance like that is more than a box score line. It is a sign of a lineup that can force defenses into repeated breakdowns and finish games before they become tense.

Nick Garramone’s team improved to 2-1 and was set to meet South Ridge at Wade Stadium the next day. Marshall enters the season carrying a strong recent pedigree, too. The Minnesota State High School League lists the school as a Class 7AA, Section 7AA program for 2026, and the Hilltoppers’ run from 2017 through 2019 included three straight state tournament appearances, a Class AA runner-up finish in 2018 and the championship in 2019. That 2019 title at Target Field was the first state baseball championship for a Duluth school since 1950.

Denfeld, listed by the league as a Lake Superior Conference school, fell to 0-2 and was still looking for its first win. The Hunters were scheduled to face Hermantown on April 24, a quick next step for a program trying to find traction after a rough start. For Marshall, the 18-run outburst was a louder message: this team already looks capable of overwhelming local opponents when the bats are working and the mistakes start piling up.