By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

Before the first pitch was thrown this season, this seemed inevitable.

The Callaway Cavaliers and Heard County Braves figured to be the class of the field in Region 5-AA, and that’s how it has played out.

Both teams have 9-0 region records, and they will play three games this week with the championship on the line.

Also this week, the LaGrange and Troup baseball teams will continue their pursuits of a Region 5-AAAA championship, and they’ll meet for a critical game on Tuesday.

Callaway (17-7 overall) maintained its perfect region record with three blowout wins over Jordan last week, and the team has won 12 consecutive games overall.

Heard County (17-5) beat Temple three times last week to keep its unblemished region record intact.

“We could see this coming,” said Josh Hanson, Callaway’s out standing senior pitcher who will start one of the three games this week. “We’re definitely excited for it.”

The teams will meet at Heard County on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., and the scene will shift to Callaway on Friday for a doubleheader.

“This is what you play for,” Hubbard said. “It comes down to the last region series. Somebody’s going to be first, somebody’s going to be second.”

LaGrange and Troup won’t be playing for a region title on Tuesday, but it is still a massively important game.

LaGrange leads the region with a 6-1 record, but Troup is just a half-game back at 6-2, while Cartersville is in third place at 5-2.

If Troup wins on Tuesday, it would not only move into first place, but it would own the tie-breaker edge over LaGrange since it would have swept the season series.

If the Grangers win, they would remain in first place, although they’d still have four region games to go, including a road test against Cartersville later this week.

After the Troup game, LaGrange finishes the week with two more region games.

LaGrange hosts Central-Carroll on Thursday, and it will visit Cartersville on Friday.

Troup will be on the road against Central-Carroll on Friday, and it finishes its week with a non-region game at Northside Saturday.

LaGrange has five region games remaining, while Troup has four more region games.

The regular season concludes next week, with the state playoffs to follow.

THIS WEEK’S GAMES

TUESDAY

Callaway at Heard County, 5:30 p.m.

LaGrange at Troup, 5:30 p.m.

THURSDAY

Central-Carroll at LaGrange, 5:30 p.m.

FRIDAY

Heard County at Callaway, 4:30 p.m.

LaGrange at Cartersville, 5:55 p.m.

Troup at Central-Carroll, 5:30 p.m.

SATURDAY

Troup at Northside, 1 p.m.