HOGANSVILLE – They’re not giving up on the chance to finish first.

With six Region 5-AAA baseball games remaining, the Callaway Cavaliers still have a chance to catch the Cedartown Bulldogs for the top spot.

In reality, though, it looks like Callaway and everyone else in the region could be playing for second.

After losing two of three to the Rockmart Yellow Jackets this week, the Cavaliers are still in second place in the region with a 5-4 record, but they now find themselves way behind the Cedartown Bulldogs, who are 8-0 in the region.

The Bulldogs haven’t been blowing teams out, but they’ve been winning.

Five of the Bulldogs’ eight region victories have been by two or fewer runs, and that includes their two wins over the Pepperell Dragons this week.

After beating Pepperell 10-8 on Tuesday, Cedartown followed that up with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday to remain perfect in the region.

Callaway and Pepperell will play the final game of their three-game series today in Rome.

Callaway will play three games against Pepperell next week before closing the regular season with three games against Cedartown.

There are a bunch of teams close behind Callaway.

Rockmart is just one game back at 4-5, and it owns the tie-breaker edge over Callaway after winning the series this week.

Central-Carroll, after sweeping a doubleheader from Haralson County on Wednesday, is also 4-5 in the region.

Pepperell is 3-5, and it if can beat Cedartown today, there would be three teams tied for third, just one game behind Callaway.

Haralson County is in last place in the region at 2-7.

“It’s going to be tough to catch (Cedartown),” Callaway head coach Dusty Hubbard said. “What we’ve got to do, is we’ve got to take care of business next week, and try to solidify ourselves in that second spot.”

The LaGrange Grangers only played one game this week, and they lost to the Harris County Tigers 9-0 to fall to 4-5 in Region 1-AAAAA.

LaGrange and Hardaway are tied for fourth place at 4-5, while Northside (8-2), Harris County (7-2) and Columbus (7-2) are leading the way in the region.

Harris County, which is the region’s hottest teams with six straight wins, knocked Columbus out of first place with Wednesday’s 4-3 win.

The Grangers are at the halfway point of their region schedule, and they’ll begin the second half with a road game against the Columbus Blue Devils on Tuesday.

The Troup Tigers are in Florida for a tournament this week, but they’ve still managed to extend their lead in Region 5-AAAA.

Troup (12-3 overall) began the week in a tie with Whitewater for first place in the region with a 5-1 record.

After Whitewater dropped two of three games to Carrollton, Troup now has a two-game cushion in the region.

Troup will return to region play with three games against Sandy Creek next week.

Troup is trying to win its first region championship in 21 years.

Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports