Click to see a video of Negaunee center fielder Eli Daavetilla robbing Mario Iveljic in last Saturday's game.
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.---The Junior Little League baseball team from Illinois that defeated the Negaunee All-Stars (age 13-14) at the Central Regional Tournament last weekend in Midland has been declared ineligible, and has been booted out of the Junior League World Series. That as the World Series is set to start in just hours.
The Elmhurst-River Forest, Illinois, All-Stars ran the table at the regional, and was about to play in the World Series in Taylor, Mich., this weekend. But late Thursday night, Little League disqualified the Illinois team, and awarded the Central Region's World Series spot to the runner-up from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.
“Upon the review of a protest filed against the Elmhurst Youth Baseball Little League, the Little League International Tournament Committee has verified that a player on its Junior League Baseball team is ineligible to play as outlined in Little League Official Regulations, Playing Rules, and Operating Policies,” the Little League statement read. “Upon review by the Little League International Tournament Committee, in conjunction with the Central Region Office, the Tournament Committee has ruled the player ineligible and therefore has deemed the Elmhurst Youth Baseball Little League’s Junior League Baseball Tournament Team ineligible to participate further in the International Tournament and will forfeit its last played game.”
So, what happened? One of the Elmurst-RF top players, Mario Iveljic, was found to have not played in any regular season games, and therefore, should not have been on the All-Star team that competed in Midland. That made Iveljic, and the team, ineligible.
It appears that one of the parents in that area turned the team in, after the regional was already over.
The Illinois team manager, Rob Fleming, in a group text with other region managers, including Negaunee Manager Joe Hermes, denied any wrongdoing. He called it a paperwork mistake, and a miscommunication between the two leagues that make up the Elmhurst-River Forest All-Star team.
Also, in a post on the RRN Facebook page, Fleming said there was no intent to cheat.
“All of our players are of the right age, and lived/went to the school in the boundry,” Fleming wrote. “One of our player's registration wasn't completed properly, so it got flagged. It was a mix-up between our two organizations. An honest clerical error. Our players are devastated and are in pain.”
Hermes is not buying that explanation of a “clerical error”.
“It's disappointing to have something like this happen,” Hermes told RRN Sports Friday evening. “That Illinois league is already pulling from how many different schools and how many different players to choose from? We pull from 29 kids right here in Negaunee. For a kid to not play in a single regular season game, and walk into All-Stars, and the coaches say they had no idea is an absolute joke.”
“Good coaches doing things the right way know exactly how many games every single kid has played to make sure everyone is eligible,” Hermes added.
Last Saturday, the Negaunee boys and Elmhurst boys were both 2-0 at the regional when they met in the winner's bracket final. That game was played in the rain, and on a junior field in neighboring Sanford. Negaunee, playing the three-time defending regional champs (not knowing that it would later be DQ'd) used its best pitcher, Nathan Harvala, rather than trying to save him for the championship round.
The Elmhurst team mercied Harvala and Negaunee, 11-0, knocking the Yoopers into the loser's bracket. Iveljic pitched a scoreless first inning of that game against Negaunee for Elmhurst, and was 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI. He crushed one off the right field fence, smacked another to the center field fence, and the only time he was retired was when center fielder Eli Daavetilla robbed him by catching a sinking line drive.
With its pitching thin after that loss, Negaunee was then mercied by Whitefish Bay on Sunday, and Negaunee ended up third in the tournament. So, what if it been a different Illinois team on that field last Saturday instead of Elmurst-RF?
“We might not have even pitched him (Harvala) and saved him for the championship,” Hermes said. “We had plenty of options at that point. It's already a David vs Goliath story, and to have Goliath cheating the system on top of it is extremely unfortunate for all the kids involved on every team.”
The Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, team lost to the Illinois squad twice in that tournament. Iveljic pitched a shutout in the championship game against Whitefish Bay. But now, it's Whitefish Bay LL scrambling to make last-minute travel plans to Detroit.
What does this mean for Negaunee? Nothing. Little League will not replay regional tournament games, and the World Series first games are just hours away.
This is the second time this summer that an Upper Peninsula team has lost to a team that would later be ruled illegal. The Kingsford Greens American Legion team lost to a team from North Branch at the state tournament in Adrian two weeks ago before North Branch was kicked out of that tournament for violating population limit rules.
Just like with Negaunee, Kingsford's loss to an illegal team stood.
In Kingsford's case, the Greens battled back through the loser's bracket to win the state championship. But in Negaunee's case, with the regional already over, they won't get that opportunity.
