Tigers one victory away from region title

Published 12:00 am Sunday, April 17, 2016

By Kevin Eckleberry

keckleberry@civitasmedia.com

FAYETTEVILLE – They’re the champs.

The Troup Tigers’ 5-0 win over Fayette County, combined with Whitewater’s loss to Woodward Academy, wrapped up the Region 5-AAAA championship.

Troup improved to 11-1 in the region, and it has a four-game cushion heading into next week’s final three region games against Whitewater.

It was a big moment for Troup, which gave the school its first baseball region title since 1995.

The next step for the Tigers is to try to bring home a state championship, and they’ll be one of the favorites to win it all when the playoffs begin.

“Obviously it’s nice, and we’re definitely going to enjoy it,” Troup head coach Craig Garner said. “But always our biggest goal is to win state. So, we’re going to enjoy this this weekend and get back to work on Monday.”

In Friday’s game, senior pitcher Bo Halcomb delivered a strong outing.

Halcomb pitched six innings, and he gave up just two hits and a walk while striking out five.

Garner said Halcomb, as always, did a great job competing.

“He gets after it,” Garner said. “Sometimes he’ll struggle for a batter, or he’ll have an inning where he doesn’t have his best stuff. But he grinds. He just grinds it out, and he competes. Even on days when he doesn’t have very good stuff, he’s still going to give you an opportunity to win a ballgame.”

Jarred Helton finished things off with a scoreless seventh inning.

Offensively, Winston Turner had three of Troup’s 13 hits.

Colby Williams, Colby Darda and Kinley Bridwell each had two hits, and Bridwell had an RBI.

Halcomb also got it done at the plate with a hit and two RBIs, and Ken Truitt had a hit and two runs scored.

CALLAWAY: The Cavaliers wrapped up their Region 5-AAA schedule by splitting a doubleheader with Cedartown on Friday.

Cedartown won the first game 8-2, and Callaway bounced back to win the second game 3-2.

Callaway finished with an 8-7 region record, and it will be the region’s number three seed for the state playoffs.

In the first game, Callaway’s Hunter Rollins hit a two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning to tie it at 2-2, but Cedartown answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning.

In the second game, Rollins got the complete-game victory, and Jordan Bonner had two hits.

Rollins, Dylan Johnson, Devin Brock and Noah Hammett each had one hit.

OF NOTE: For more on Friday’s games, see Monday’s sports section.

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