Negaunee’s Max Cody prepares to make a catch during a Little League Major Division state tournament game played in Saginaw over the past week. (Photo courtesy BaseballMichigan.com)

SAGINAW — Negaunee was slated to play Plymouth Canton on Wednesday night to decide the Little League Major Division title.

The winner was to be crowned state champion and represent Michigan in the Great Lakes Regional, one step removed from the famed Little League World Series. No Upper Peninsula team has won a Major Baseball state championship since Gladstone in 1996, according to MLive.com.

Negaunee won its first four games played on consecutive days to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal round of the tournament in Saginaw. In the semifinal, Negaunee nipped Grand Rapids Southern 1-0.

Negaunee’s Nathan Harvala went the distance on the mound against Grand Rapids, allowing four hits and zero walks while striking out eight. Harvala also scored the game’s only run. After drawing a walk in the top of the sixth inning, he scored on a two-out double by Kalen Johnson.

In the 16-team tourney, Negaunee finished 3-0 in pool play, opening with a 4-1 win over Midland Northeast on Friday, then edging West Branch 5-4 in seven innings on Saturday before wrapping up with a 10-3 victory over Ira Township on Sunday.

Negaunee and those three opponents made up the four-team Pool B with two of them advancing.

On Monday afternoon, the Marquette County representative defeated Mattawan 10-5 in the quarterfinals to continue on in this single-elimination knockout part of the tournament.

Mattawan went 2-1 in Pool A. Among Mattawan’s games was a 12-7 victory on Friday over Gladstone, the Upper Peninsula’s other representative in the event.

Gladstone finished 0-3 and didn’t advance after also losing to Roosevelt Park 15-11 and Taylor North 9-6.

This is the division of Little League baseball that eventually sends teams to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for the LL World Series that is extensively televised in August.

Here are details from all of Negaunee’s games in the Major Division state baseball tourney:

Negaunee 4, Midland NE 1

On Friday, Harvala threw a one-hit complete game, a task made tough by Little League’s strict pitch-count rules as he was able to accomplish the feat by only having to throw 64 pitches.

Thomas Dix supported him well, knocking in all four of the U.P. team’s runs with a three-run home run and RBI single.

Negaunee 5, W. Branch 4

On Saturday in this extra-inning game — six innings is a standard game length at this level — Negaunee’s Johnson hit a walkoff double in the bottom of the seventh that sent the winning run home.

Teammate Evan Cardinal threw the final four innings, the only run scoring being the “ghost” runner who started the inning on second base in the top of the seventh.

Negaunee 10, Ira 3

On Sunday, Johnson, Gavin Hermes and Maddox Halamka combined on the mound to allow just two earned runs. Johnson went 1 2/3 innings with one run allowed, Hermes the next three innings with three hits and an earned run, and Halamka the final 1 1/3 with only an unearned run.

Cardinal and Ben Paananen each went 2 for 3, Paananen collecting three RBIs, while Hermes was 2 for 4 and Harvala blasted a two-run homer.

Negaunee 10, Mattawan 5

On Monday in the quarterfinals, Dix started and went two innings, not allowing a run nor a hit as he walked two and struck out three, while Jonny Juntti went the final four innings, giving up five runs — just three earned — on 10 hits as he walked two and fanned four.

Harvala was 3 for 3 with a double and two runs scored. Juntti and Bazil Hill each were 2 for 2, Juntti scoring twice, knocking in one and drawing a walk, while Hill had a double, scored twice and collected three RBIs.

In addition, Wyatt Dost was 1 for 1 as he took a hit-by-pitch.

After scoring five runs in the opening inning, the big knock being Hill’s two-run double, Negaunee led 6-0 after three.

But Mattawan scored three runs in the top of the fourth to pull within 6-3, Negaunee answering with two in the bottom of the inning.

Mattawan again crept within 8-5 in the top of the fifth before Negaunee added two back for insurance in the bottom of the frame.

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The Daily News contributed to this report.