(Matt McCarthy/Daily News photos) Iron Mountain-Kingsford-Norway’s Caleb Johnson (top) winds up to deliver a pitch Thursday afternoon at LiUNA Field against Gladstone. Teammate Gannon Bray (below) stands in the batter’s box in the early innings Thursday afternoon.

The game featured great pitching by both teams on a sunny day at LiUNA Field in Iron Mountain.

Gladstone, the three-time defending American Legion state champions, plated one run on a pair of hits to take an early 1-0 lead before the home team came up to bat.

“We wanted to get off to a fast start, and try to get some runs on the board in the first inning,” Gladstone Indians manager Justin Jurek said. “Getting off to a fast start seems to put the defense at ease, and it gives our pitcher and defense some confidence from the start.”

Caleb Johnson toed the pitcher’s mound for Iron Mountain and didn’t appear rattled despite surrendering the first-inning run.

“It was very unusual for Caleb (Johnson) to give up first-inning runs,” Iron Mountain Manager Paul Julian said. “He regrouped and pitched fine until we took him out of the game.”

Johnson was removed when he reached 45 pitches and was replaced by Kouger Wagner.

Gladstone starting pitcher Riley Baldovski went the distance for a complete-game win. He hurled nine strikeouts while allowing four hits, with a lone base on balls, an intentional walk to Iron Mountain designated hitter Hunter McCarthy in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Both Johnson and Wagner did a great job of keeping Gladstone runners from reaching base in the middle innings of the game, as did Baldovski until the late innings, when IM got a handful of runners on base.

The game was fairly fast-paced, as the left-handed Wagner works quickly on the mound. “Wagner pitched well for us, also; he gets the ball back from the catcher, kicks and fires,” Julian said.

The sixth inning was fairly eventful, with Iron Mountain making an impressive defensive play in the top half of the inning. After a Gladstone batter drew a walk, he attempted to steal second, but IM catcher Jesse Julian made a snap throw to first for the pick-off, then first baseman Josh Weber made the throw to second baseman Gannon Bray to tag out the runner.

The home team got on the scoreboard in the bottom half of that inning to tie the game at 1-1. Kody Hendricks reached safely on an infield single, then McCarthy drew the intentional walk. Julian cracked a double to right center field and plated Hendricks.

The top half of the final inning saw Gladstone get a couple of runners on base via walks, who then advanced into scoring position on stolen bases and a sacrifice fly. Ian Schwalbach of Gladstone broke the 1-1 tie with an RBI single to put the visitors ahead 2-1.

The home half of the seventh inning, Wagner led off with a single, followed by Bryce Pietrantonio with a single of his own. At this point, IM starting pitcher Johnson, who had been reinserted, came up to bat with one out.

Johnson reached base on an infield hit to load the bases, then Jurek called time out from the Gladstone dugout. It was determined Iron Mountain committed an illegal substitution, as Johnson was fifth in the batting order when the game began and then was replaced by Wagner.

American Legion post-season tournament rules state that if Johnson were to get substituted back into the game, regardless of what position in the field he was put in, he had to be reinserted into the fifth spot in the batting order.

Unique to this season because of the unofficial nature of the league because of the COVID-19 pandemic, during the regular season there was free substitution for the entire league, on a game-by-game basis and a inning-by-inning basis.

Players were free to play as many games as they’d like to and join the team at any part of the season. But during the post season tournament, the free substitution rule isn’t allowed.

The umpires and coaches met for several minutes before deciding Pietrantonio and Wagner had to return to their respective bases and Johnson was called out.

Iron Mountain assistant coach Mark Pugh was the one in the dugout holding the team’s scorebook. “I take full responsibility for the error,” Pugh said. “We all feel horrible for the kids.”

Julian added, “It basically cost us a better chance of tying or possibly winning the game, we went from runners on second and third with one out, down one run. To runners at first and second with two outs.”

Gladstone got the third out of the inning two pitches later to seal the one-run victory.

“Obviously, technicalities aren’t the way we want to win a baseball game,” Jurek said. “I was more so trying to get clarification as to what happened, because something didn’t seem right about their substitutions late in the game.”

In the pool-play format, Gladstone returns to LiUNA Field at 9:30 a.m Central time today to play Delta County rival Escanaba. IM must win its next two games to advance out of pool play; the team returns to action at noon Central time today to face Escanaba.

Julian noted the team plans to use Johnson on Saturday, as he’s required one full day of rest before being allowed to pitch again.

As for who may pitch for IM-K-Norway today, Julian said, “We have plenty of arms on our bench, guys that I am confident with.”

The tournament semifinals both will be 11 a.m. Central time Saturday, with one game at Quinnesec Fields. The tournament championship game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Central time Saturday at LiUNA Field.

Matt “Sweet” McCarthy can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 222, or mmccarthy@ironmountaindailynews.com.

Box Score

Runs Hits Errors Runners LOB

G — 2 3 1 2

IM — 1 4 3 5

Innings

G — 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 2

IM — 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 — 1