It’s time to play for keeps.

The Troup Tigers fell to homestanding St. Pius X 6-4 on Tuesday in their final game before Region 5-AAAA play begins.

The Tigers played a strong non-region schedule, and they’ll carry a 4-5 record into Friday’s region opener at Alexander.

On Tuesday, Troup took on a solid St. Pius X team that will likely compete for a championship in its region, and the Tigers also had to deal with an all artificial turf infield.

Troup practiced for awhile at Callaway Stadium on Monday in preparation for Tuesday’s game.

“We got in a little practice at the stadium,” Troup head coach Craig Garner. “But it was different.”

Jarred Adams got the start for Troup, and he was done in by a rocky fourth inning that saw St. Pius belt out two home runs and score five runs.

Adams went five innings, and he didn’t give up a run in four of those innings.

Adams was “lights out” through three innings according to Garner before things came unraveled in the fourth inning.

Tyler Bunn pitched the fifth and sixth innings, and he gave up one run in the sixth.

Troup was led offensively by Johnathan Foster, who had a pair of RBI doubles.

Dalton Hadley also had a couple of hits and two RBIs, and Winston Turner had a hit.

Troup will play nothing but region games until the final weekend of the regular season.

The Tigers are hoping to earn one of the region’s four invitations to the state playoffs.