DOWAGIAC – A pair of come-from-behind victories lifted Niles to its first district baseball championship in 11 years.

The Vikings rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the second semifinal on Saturday at Rotary Park in Dowagiac to defeat Benton Harbor 10-5. Niles then rallied to defeat defending district champion Lakeshore 9-7 to win its first title since 1999.
The Lancers, who reached the state semifinals last season, defeated Dowagiac 10-7 in the first game of the day on a walk-off grand slam from Jarrod Hasse in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Trailing 6-5 in the sixth inning, Niles scored four runs, highlighted by a bases-clearing triple by senior Riley Robson to put the Vikings up 9-6.
Lakeshore scored a run in the seventh to cut it to 9-7, but reliever Chris Mangus shut the door on the Lancers and gave Niles the championship.
Taylor Campbell earned the victory as he and Mangus combined on a four-hitter.
The Vikings finished with nine hits, including a game-tying two-run home run in the second inning by Mitchell Dehn.
See Monday’s Niles Daily Star for more on on the championship run.

Division 2 District Baseball
At Dowagiac
Semifinals
Dowagiac 100 002 202 – 7 13 4
Lakeshore 020 012 005 – 10 15 1
Mikey Melcher (W) and Jarrod Hasse
Zach Hyatt, Jason Turner (L) and Brett Scanlon and Chad Gravatt
2B: Ryan Avery (L) 2, Turner (D)
3B: Melcher (L)
HR: Hasse (L)

Benton Harbor 202 100 0 – 5 5 1
Niles 014 203 x – 10 7 4
Chris Mangus (W) and Tyler Parish
Henry Futrell (L) and Brad Bickham
3B: Matthew McLaughlin (N), Taylor Campbell (N), Chris Mangus (N)

Championship
Niles 023 040 0 – 9 9 5
Lakeshore 213 000 1 – 7 4 0
Taylor Campbell (W), Chris Mangus (save) and Tyler Parish
Jeff Narragan (L) and Jarrod Hasse
3B: Riley Robson (N)
HR: Mitchell Dehn (N)