Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Gladstone’s Cooper Cavadeas slides home while Copper Country’s Brandon Norkel waits for the throw June 22, 2019 at Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — Last year, the Gladstone Indians American Legion baseball team wrapped up its third straight state championship. But with the cancellation of the Legion season, the Indians won’t have the chance to defend their title this year. Fortunately, the team will still be participating in the Upper Peninsula Under-19 League, and manager Justin Jurek can already feel the support from the community as the Indians try to win a U.P. championship instead.

“I think the whole community has kind of rallied behind us, so I think the whole team wants to keep that going,” he said. “I don’t think anyone on the team wants to be the first team that hasn’t won (the title) in so many years. I think the community is behind us for it, and I think our guys are pretty excited to keep that success rolling.

“I think everyone’s pretty excited after having everything at the end of their senior and junior season taken away. I think everyone is just excited to be playing ball.”

Teams around the country are feeling the same negatives with the numerous cancellations, but one positive for Gladstone is participation.

“We’re up a few players more than average just because, I think, there’s a couple kids who don’t play Legion after playing their high school season,” Jurek said. “Obviously with having no high school season, everyone’s just playing (U19).”

Despite a slow start due to the high school spring season cancellation, Jurek is happy with where the team is.

“(I’m feeling) really good about the team right now,” he said. “I think this will be the most depth we’ve had in a while. I think it’s going to be very competitive between the whole team to field nine guys. I don’t think we really have any outcasts as far as players. I think everyone’s just a quality player that will be fighting for a position.

“I don’t think anyone on our team necessarily has a for-sure, guaranteed, locked-up spot. I think at every position we have a couple guys who could change in and change out, and we wouldn’t really lose anything.”

Despite a quick turnaround on the formation of the league, Jurek – and other coaches – took their time developing procedures due to COVID-19.

“It was a late kind of decision, and the league got thrown together quickly and late,” he said. “On top of that, having to make sure we have protocols for the city and making sure we’re taking the right precautions so no one’s sick or getting sick, so there were definitely a lot more protocols and protective measures taken this year than previously.”

The Indians will open their season hosting Marquette today at 4:30 p.m. on the opening day of this weekend’s round-robin tournament in Delta County.

“I think I’m going to learn a lot from the team (this weekend),” Jurek said. “Obviously, the majority of this team, I haven’t actually coached yet. Coaching them for the first time, I think I’ll learn a lot. I’ll learn what they have and what they can provide for the team. I want to get a lot of guys some innings on the mound to see how deep we are with pitching. I think that this weekend is going to go a lot toward learning about our team and what we have.

“I’m happy we’re playing ball, and I appreciate all the other coaches that were involved in getting this thing going and running. I’m pretty excited — not just for us — but for everyone to get some ball in this summer.”

The schedule:

June 19 — Marquette

June 20 — Menominee, Negaunee

June 21 — Copper Country

June 23 — Marquette

June 30 — Bark River

July 1 — Iron Mountain

July 3 — at Escanaba

July 7 — Escanaba

July 9 — at Iron Mountain

July 11 — Antigo, Wis., Ashwaubenon, Wis. at Menominee

July 12 — Sault Ste. Marie

July 15 — at Marquette

July 17 — Petoskey

July 18 — Petoskey, Menominee

July 24-26 — League tournament at Iron Mountain