Two weeks ago not many people would have given the Niles baseball team much of a chance to still be alive in the state tournament.

After all, the Vikings were only a few games above .500 and they had just gotten shutout by Sturgis 10-0.

That regular season finale may have been the turning point for Niles, which defeated Paw Paw and Edwardsburg to win the Division 2 district championship and then defeated No. 1-ranked Coldwater (5-1) and Sturgis (12-1) to win the regional championship this past Saturday at Lakeshore High School.

Niles got a pair of tremendous pitching performances from Jakob and Drew Huffman, played great defense and got timely hitting en route to its first regional title since 1999 and only the second in school history.

The Vikings head to Davenport University near Grand Rapids today to take on No. 3-ranked Holland Christian in the state quarterfinals. The winner advances to Thursday’s Division 2 state semifinal at Michigan State University.

Niles coach Mike Vota was in his first season when the Vikings won the regional title in 1999. He said that he did not realize at the time just how special that was.

“I think when we did it the first time I really didn’t appreciate it,” Vota said. “That is something I have really reflected on the last couple of days. I thought it was easy. Shoot, I walked into some good players and just kind of put things together and ran with it. I thought how can you not do this every year.

“This time means a lot more. Not that that one didn’t mean anything, but now I know the struggles and what goes into it. I know how you have to have a good team that is ready is prepared and ready to go and how you have to prepare people to win. Plus you have to have some luck on you side too. I think we have had a nice combination of all those things. I think the way we played Saturday was the best baseball we have played all year. We may have peaked at the right time and let’s hope we are not done peaking yet.”

The Vikings were 18-15 heading into the state tournament. Vota said that he has learned a lot about his squad over the past two weekends.

“Character,” answered Vota when asked what has made the difference. “These guys just play with energy. The ups, the downs, it doesn’t matter where we are. It is not artificial with them. A lot of times you will have teams that hoot and holler and they get all excited, but it is not genuine.

“These guys root for each other, they care about each other and the play the game the right way for each other. There is no part of ‘I’ in this team and that is what makes them a special group.”

Vota will hand the ball to junior Jacob Hamm, who will try keep the Maroons in check.

Like Niles, Holland Christian (33-6) also lost their final game of the regular season, but has won four straight.

The Maroons defeated Grand Rapids South Christian (7-0) and Unity Christian (4-3) to capture the district championship before defeating Kenowa Hills (5-1) and Forest Hills Eastern 2-1 on a walk-off double to win the regional title.

Hamm said that he would approach today’s game like every other start this season.

“I am just going to go in there and play my game,” Hamm said. “Keeping the ball low and changing it up. I know I have a great defense behind me and I am just going to let them work. I am going to treat it like any other game.”

Hamm said he has learned a lot about his teammates since the state tournament started.

“I think the biggest part is that we are brothers on the team and when someone gets down we pick them up. That is kind of how we got through the challenging times when we lost eight in a row and then how we got on this win streak and won all these games in a row. There is a cohesiveness on this team.”

Austin Curran has been one of the hottest bats in the Vikings’ lineup.

He was 2-for-2 with two RBIs in the district championship game against Edwardsburg, while on Saturday, he was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI against Coldwater and 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs against Sturgis.

Curran said he went through a bit of a slump during the season, but has turned it around.

“I got hot at the right time,” he said, and I started hitting them out at the right time and hopefully that will continue.”

Curran said he has changed his approach.

“I am not trying to do too much with it,” he said. “I try to hit it wherever they throw it. If it is outside go with it and if it is inside turn on it. And if it is right down the middle, drive it out.”

Curran said he has learned that he and his teammates are capable of beating anyone.

“Everyone on this team can contribute,” Curran said. “We’ve got Cody (Glick), who is one of the best hitters on the team, and he lays down two bunts in two weekends that moved me over. We can all steal, we can all bunt and we can all drive runs home.”

Niles will need to continue doing all those things if it wants to advance to the school’s first-ever state semifinal.

Tickets for today’s game are $5 and will be available at Davenport University. No passes will be accepted.