IRON MOUNTAIN — The U.P. American Legion Baseball zone tournament played in Delta County ended Sunday with the Marquette Blues earning the championship a day after the Dickinson County Greens were disqualified.

The Greens, after defeating Gladstone on Thursday night and defeating Menominee on both Friday night and Saturday afternoon, were in the sixth inning of a game versus the Eastern U.P. Wood Ducks on Saturday when play was stopped with the Greens trailing 7-2.

At that point, tournament officials asked to see the driver’s license of a Greens player.

It turned out the player was 20 years old, having turned 20 a week prior to the tournament. It was reported by RRN Sports that Greens manager Paul Julian thought that since he was 19 when the season began, the player was eligible.

However, American Legion rules state that a player cannot have turned 20 at any point in the calendar year of 2021, and that meant the Dickinson County team had to forfeit any game in which the player had participated.

After going 3-0 through the first three games of pool play, all four of the Greens’ qualifying games were forfeited, and they were disqualified from the remainder of the tournament. The disqualification also ended their season and hopes to play in the American Legion state tournament.

Rosters for the tournament were reportedly required to be entered both electronically and on paper, including birth dates.

The Marquette Blues defeated Menominee in the championship game on Sunday afternoon, with both teams, as well as third-place finisher the Copper Country Flames advancing to participate in the state tournament Friday through Sunday in Marquette.

RRN Sports.com contributed to this story.