ST. CLOUD -- This is how unseeded Duluth Marshall defeated No. 2 seed Belle Plaine 8-4 in the Class 2A baseball state tournament on Thursday.

With Belle Plaine (20-3) leading 4-1 in the top of the sixth inning, Belle Plaine pitcher Nathan Herman faced his toughest challenge: runners on second and third after two singles and a wild pitch. The senior faced threats multiples times -- runners reached scoring position in four of the five prior innings -- but he always got out of the jams. He struck out nine, including the side twice, in six innings and scattered nine hits.

He got two outs, one on a bad bunt in front of the mound, then a strike out. A fly ball to center made it seem Herman would get out of the inning unscathed.But a teammate dropped the ball. Two runs scored.

Herman bent over, with his hands at his hips. When he got out of the inning a batter later, no more damage done, he walked to the dugout without accepting any of the high fives his teammates offered him.

“Without that, I don’t think we would’ve came back,” Duluth Marshall infielder Derrick Winn said of the error in centerfield.

With the Hilltoppers (19-5) still down a run, coach Joe Wicklund told his players they would need to have a runner on base when Winn, due up third in the order in the top of the seventh, came to the plate.

They ended up with two runners. Peter Hansen singled. Nic Semann worked a walk after Belle Plaine failed to catch his pop up in foul territory.

Then it was Winn's turn. He hit a ball into the ivy of left centerfield, where the fielder struggled to grab the ball. When hey did, he slipped as he threw it. The two runners scored, and Winn did too -- even though he said his legs began to give out on him at third base.

“That’s the part where we felt like it was breakthrough,” Wicklund said. “We felt like we’d been knocking on the door, and the last inning, as soon as Derrick hit that baseball, I felt like we had not only knocked on the door and opened it -- but ran through it.”

The Blaine outfielders all crouched to their knees as the Marshall players wrapped Winn in hugs.

Herman walked to first base, expressionless. A new Belle Plaine pitcher came in but the Hilltoppers, who have just four seniors on their roster, added two more runs.

Hilltoppers sophomore pitcher Carter Sullivan, who came on in relief of sophomore Ben Pedersen in the sixth inning, closed out the game with three consecutive outs.

“In some ways we’re going to tap into our youth, tap into our naivete in these games,” Wicklund said. “We don’t ever know we’ve been beaten because we don’t ever believe we are.”

ST. CLOUD – Duluth Marshall rallied with seven runs in the last two innings to upset No. 2 seed Belle Plaine 8-4 in the the Class 2A baseball quarterfinals Thursday at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud.

The Hilltoppers, trailing 4-1 in the top of the sixth inning, had runners on first and second with two out when Belle Plaine pitcher Nathan Herman induced a fly ball to centerfield that seemed to get him out of a jam. But the ball was dropped and two runs scored.

An inning later, Marshall’s Derrick Winn doubled to left field with two runners on base. They scored, and Winn did, too, because of another fielding error. That started a five-run inning for Marshall, which will play the winner of the game between New London-Spicer and Pierz.

Check back later for more on the game.