KINGS MILLS – The Versailles baseball team advanced to the sweet 16 of the Ohio High School Athletic Association tournament by defeating Summit Country Day 5-2 in a district championship game on Friday.

Versailles found itself facing an early deficit as Summit Country Day scored a run in the bottom half of the first inning.

The Tigers tied the game in the third, though, as Jared Niekamp hit a one-out single, advanced to third when Kyle Subler reached on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly by Keaton McEldowney.

The Tigers took their first lead of the game in the fifth inning. Kyle Subler drew a two-out walk, went to second on a passed ball and scored on a Keaton McEldowney single to put Versailles up 2-1.

The lead didn’t last for long with Summit tying the game in the bottom half of the inning.

However, Versailles regained the lead for good in the sixth. Cole Niekamp hit a two-out double and scored on a Collin Peters single, making it 3-2.

In the seventh Versailles added two insurance runs, again doing its damage with two outs. First Keaton McEldowney hit a two-out solo home run. Brett McEldowney then tripled, and Kurtis Rutschilling hit a RBI single for the game’s final run.

Versailles out-hit Summit Country Day eight to five. The Tigers committed no errors while the Silver Knights had two.

Keaton McEldowney was 2-for-3 with a home run, a run and three RBIs. Rutschilling was 2-for-4 with a double and a RBI. Brett McEldowney was 1-for-3 with a triple and a walk.

Cole Niekamp was 1-for-4 with a double and a run. Peters was 1-for-3 with a RBI. Jared Niekamp was 1-for-3 and scored a run. Subler and Adam Lyons both scored a run.

Brett McEldowney pitched the complete game, allowing two runs on five hits, no walks and 10 strikeouts.

Versailles now advances to play in the regional semifinals at 5 p.m. Thursday at Athletes in Action in Xenia.