By Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

There was no panic, no worry in the Troup dugout.

LaGrange’s Drew Hagler had just hit a three-run homer to give the Grangers a 3-0 lead in the second inning, but Troup coach Craig Garner said his players remained calm and focused.

“We got down 3-0 early, and it didn’t phase us,” Garner said. “Our guys kept their cool, kept their confidence.”

The Tigers fought back to tie it 3-3 in the third inning, and after LaGrange took a 5-4 lead in the fifth, Troup dominated the rest of the game to take a 10-5 victory in the Region 2-AAA showdown.

Blake Barber pitched three scoreless innings to get the victory in relief of Brad Bartlett, and the Tigers pounded out 15 hits.

The win moves the Tigers to 5-1 in region play, and it keeps them in contention for the region championship.

The Tigers host Northside today in a matchup of teams tied for second place in the region, and they visit region-leading Columbus on Friday.

“We’ve got three big ones this week,” said Josh King, who had two of the Tigers’ hits on Tuesday.

The Grangers are sitting a 3-3 in the region, and they’re in fourth place.

LaGrange can solidify its playoff position with a win at Shaw today.

If the Grangers lose, they would be staring at the possibility of missing the playoffs for the third straight year.

“I told our team, (today) is the biggest game you’ve played in your high-school career,” LaGrange coach Donnie Branch said. “I really think our best baseball ahead of us, but we have to play our way in.”

The Tigers had plenty of heroes Tuesday.

Eric Escobedo, who has been torrid of late, had three hits, as did Rus Morman.

Jackson Oliver, Luke Bailey, King and Cody Hunt each had two hits.

Hunt, the No. 9 hitter in the order, had a pair of doubles.

“Everybody hit,” King said. “When that happens, the whole team stays up, and it gets your team fired up.”

For LaGrange, Hagler had a pair of hits and four RBIs.

The Granger fans were making plenty of noise when Hagler pinned his team to a 3-0 lead with his home run.

Thanks to double plays in the first two innings, the Grangers kept a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom of the third inning when Troup broke through.

Morman’s two-run double got the Tigers within a run, and King reached on a bunt single to deadlock the game.

Hagler put the Grangers back on top with an RBI single in the fourth, and the Tigers tied it in the bottom of the inning.

Hunt doubled, moved to third on Oliver’s groundout, and scored on another groundout by Barber.

LaGrange reclaimed the lead in the fifth.

Chad Grant singled, Tristian Johnson put down a sacrifice bunt, Jon McRae singled, and Rodney Tolbert delivered an RBI sacrifice fly.

Things began to go wrong in the fifth for the Grangers.

Escobedo and Morman led off with back-to-back singles, and King reached on a bunt to load the bases.

With Garrett Cole at the plate, a pitch from Noah Hull got away from Hagler, the Grangers’ catcher, and two runs scored on the play to give Troup a 6-5 lead.

“They scored two runs on a ball that bounced away about 10 feet,” Branch said.

Reed knocked in another run with a groundout, and after Hunt doubled, Oliver added a double of his own to push the lead to 8-5.

Hull pitched five innings, with Branch felt was one inning too many.

“I went one too many with Noah, and that’s my fault,” Branch said.

Troup added a couple of insurance runs in the sixth.

Escobedo and Morman each singled, and Cole’s two-out double brought them both in to make it a 10-5 game.

Barber gave up just one hit in three innings, and he also made a spectacular play at shortstop earlier in the game that saved at least one run.

The Grangers had two runners on in the fourth when Barber made a diving stop to his left, and he flipped the ball to second for the third out.

“He made a great play diving up the middle,” Garner said. “That could have been a big inning for them. Tht puts us down by two, and it could have been runners on the corners again.”

Although Bartlett didn’t get the win, he did a nice job of bouncing back after giving up the home run.

“He did a great job of battling back,” Garner said.