The last of the Upper Peninsula representatives at the LL Major Division state tournament clinched the Michigan championship by defeating Plymouth-Canton 10-5 at the Zauel Park complex in Saginaw Township.

What lies ahead could be an incredible opportunity — a berth in the Little League World Series if these Negaunee boys can win the Great Lakes Regional that is coming up in about 10 days in Whitestown, Indiana.

“I hate to say it, but I really did think we had a chance to win the state tournament,” said Negaunee manager Joe Dost, who said the core of his team are a group of 12-year-olds who have been playing together for a number of years already.

This division of Little League includes 11- and 12-year-olds, with 9- and 10-year-olds also allowed.

Negaunee’s Evan Cardinal celebrates after crossing home plate to score a run during the Little League baseball Major Division state tournament championship game played against Plymouth-Canton on Wednesday in Saginaw. (Photo courtesy Michael Kolleth)

“These guys got knocked out in pool play last year in the state tournament as nine 11-year-olds,” Dost said. “And the year before that, they lost to the eventual state champions in the Minor Division state tournament when they were 10.

“So they’ve had a lot of success.”

Despite that tournament experience, Dost admitted his charges were a bit nervous coming out of the gate in the state finals late Wednesday afternoon.

“Yeah, we came out and the lights were a little bit too bright,” Dost said. “Then we settled in and played some good baseball.”

Negaunee committed a pair of errors and spotted the Detroit-area team an unearned run in the top of the first inning.

Players and a coach from the Negaunee team line up along the third-base line to receive medals for winning the Little League baseball Major Division state championship after defeating Plymouth-Canton on Wednesday in Saginaw. Negaunee is the first Upper Peninsula team to win a Major Division state title since Gladstone in 1996, according to MLive.com. (Photo courtesy Radio Results Network)

Despite finishing with a score in the double digits, it was a Negaunee inning of superb defense and pitching that Dost pointed to as the key to the contest, specifically the second inning, when the U.P. team was still down 1-0.

“That was the big momentum swing in the game,” Dost said.

Plymouth-Canton’s first three runners reached to load the bases, prompting the manager to make a switch to Evan Cardinal on the pitcher’s mound.

With nobody out, Cardinal proceeded to strike out the first batter he faced.

Batter No. 2 hit a line drive toward Negaunee second baseman Gavin Hermes, who snagged the ball out of the air to keep the baserunners locked in place.

And Cardinal also struck out the third batter he faced to end the threat and keep Plymouth-Canton’s lead at a single run.

Immediately, Negaunee rallied for four runs in the bottom of the inning and was never headed.

Fortuitously, Cardinal began that rally with a leadoff double and Jonny Juntti walked to put two runners aboard. The big blow was delivered by Bazil Hill, who brought both home with a single. Then Maddox Halamka singled and back-to-back errors each scored a run.

From there, Negaunee built up a 7-2 lead, the loudest knocks a pair of solo, over-the-fence homers hit by Tuesday’s pitching hero, Nathan Harvala, who threw the four-hit, complete-game shutout in a 1-0 victory over Grand Rapids Southern that got Negaunee to this point.

While Harvala might’ve been ear-splitting, it was Ben Paananen who was clutch when he unloaded the bases with a three-run double in the fourth.

That came after Plymouth-Canton scored three runs in the top of that inning to pull within 7-5.

Paananen’s big hit made it 10-5 with the score staying that way as there was no more scoring.

Cardinal got credit for the pitching victory, going 3 1/3 innings and allowing four runs on five hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

Thomas Dix started and went one inning, allowing an unearned run on two hits and a walk, while Kalen Johnson came on for the save, going the final 1 2/3 innings and not allowing a run on two hits and two walks as he fanned three.

Of Negaunee’s 13 hits, Harvala, Hill, Halamka and Johnson had two apiece, Harvala with his two homers, Hill with a double and two RBIs, Halamka scoring twice and Johnson crossing the plate once.

Paananen and Juntti each went 1 for 2, Paananen with his double and three RBIs, Juntti notching a double, two RBIs and a walk.

And Cardinal, Dix and Wyatt Dost all went 1 for 3, Cardinal doubling and scoring twice and Dost also scoring a run.

All those batters victimized a pair of Plymouth-Canton pitchers. Starter Gavin Contreras went four innings, allowing eight runs — six earned — on 10 hits and two walks with five Ks, while reliever Karson Taylor got in one full inning with two unearned runs on three hits.

Dost confirmed what a look at the Little League national website showed for regional play in Indiana from Saturday, Aug. 2, to Wednesday, Aug. 6.

Negaunee will be known far and wide as “Michigan” and competes against the state champs from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky in the double-elimination Great Lakes Regional bracket for the right to advance to Williamsport.

Because of the odd five teams, two have to play a preliminary game, and it won’t be Negaunee.

In fact, the Yoopers are the only team not playing on the regional’s opening day.

The Michigan representative opens play at 4 p.m. Eastern time Sunday against the winner of Saturday’s 10 a.m. contest between Ohio and Kentucky.

Saturday’s other game is at 7 p.m. between Illinois and Indiana, while Sunday’s second game at 7 p.m. pits Saturday’s losing teams.

No matter what happens to Negaunee on Sunday, the U.P. team will play in one of Monday’s two games.

There are also single games scheduled on Tuesday afternoon and the championship tilt on Wednesday evening.

A note on the bracket also says that “All games will be broadcast on ESPN platforms,” which can mean ESPN TV channels or its online channels.

The schedule further shows that every game through Monday afternoon — a loser’s bracket game — will be shown on ESPN+, an ESPN online-only channel. The final three games starting Monday night — the winner’s bracket final — are scheduled to be on ESPN, the main ESPN cable TV channel, though they could also end up on one of ESPN’s affiliated TV channel, such as ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN News.

Mining

Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.