Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Gladstone’s Dayton Bernson (19) catches a throw to force Bark River’s Cody Cortinez (32) at first base Wednesday in Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — The bats came alive for the Gladstone Indians here Wednesday night in a 9-3 American Legion baseball triumph over the Bark River Bucs.

Gladstone (2-4) collected a season-high 10 hits in this match-up, including four in the fifth inning when it scored three times for a 7-3 advantage.

“Every game, we seem to be getting more comfortable in our positions, and we’re putting the bat on the ball,” said Gladstone manager Scott Kwarciany. “The kids played pretty well, and they covered each other well.”

Caden Alworden and Drake Forrest opened the fifth with back-to-back singles along the leftfield line. Tyler Darmogray added an infield single, and Ryan Polley followed with a single to left.

During the inning, Alworden gave the Indians a 5-3 lead on a wild pitch. Forrest then scored on John Soderman’s ground out to second base, and Aedan Creten made it 7-3 when Mason LaChance got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Alworden scored again in the sixth on a bases-loaded walk, and Nick Martin ended the scoring on Darmogray’s line drive to first.

“We had a lot of mental errors,” said Bark River manager Matt Richer, Jr. “We didn’t tag up when we should a couple times and just couldn’t get the timely hits. We didn’t have much practice time. Although, we definitely have to clean up our defense. When you come into Gladstone, you expect a tough game, and we got one tonight. We expected this to be a hard-fought game and hung in there for a while.”

Darmogray scored Gladstone’s first run on LaChance’s single to left in the opening frame.

LaChance then gave the Indians a two-run cushion after a fielding error.

Bark River took its only lead on a bases-clearing double to right-center by Noah Gorzinski in the third.

A bunt single by Alworden, followed by a two-run throwing error, enabled the Indians to regain the lead in their half of the third.

Alworden finished with three hits, and Darmogray had two. Gorzinski had a pair of doubles, including one to right in the sixth.

LaChance, who worked five innings for the win, struck out three, walked none and allowed three hits. Dylan Pepin pitched the last two frames, striking out two, walking none and giving up three hits.

“Mason threw a nice game, and Dylan finished it up pretty good,” said Kwarciany. “Things are moving along, and our confidence is building. Our pitching rotation will be ready to go this weekend.”

Nick Javurek threw 4 2/3 innings and took the loss. He fanned three, walked four, hit a batter and surrendered seven runs on nine hits. Wyatt Riley then struck out two, walked two, hit a batter and gave up two runs on one hit in relief.

Bark River committed four errors, and Gladstone had two.

“We’re disappointed in how we played; … Gladstone has a good team,” said Richer. “They’re well-coached and fundamentally sound. We have good enough players. We definitely don’t expect to make four errors with the talent we have. It wasn’t our night.”

Gladstone meets Watertown, Wis. in the opening round of the Marinette Firecracker tournament today at 6. Bark River is idle until July 1 when it hosts Menominee in a doubleheader.

The Junior Bucs defeated the Junior Indians 15-9 in the preliminary game.