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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Callaway Cavaliers and Troup Tigers, who both enjoyed extended stays in the state baseball playoffs after successful regular seasons, finished the season ranked in a handful of postseason polls.

The LaGrange Grangers, who won a state-playoff series, also received recognition in the polls.

It was a memorable spring for all three teams, including Troup (29-5), which won the Region 2-AAAA championship, set a program record for wins in a season, and advanced to the third round of the state playoffs before losing to North Oconee.

In the final Maxpreps.com poll of the season, Troup earned a lofty number four ranking, and it was ranked fifth in the final Coaches Box Georgia poll.

ranking, and it was ranked fifth in the final Coaches Box Georgia poll.

In the last Georgia Dugout Preview poll, Troup was ranked sixth.

Marist, which won the Class AAAA state title, is ranked first in all three polls, and the team it beat in the championship series, Benedictine, is second.

Troup, which won the region title with a 12-0 record, beat New Hampstead and Perry in the state playoffs to reach the quarterfinals.

After losing the first game to North Oconee 13-3, Troup had the lead until the sixth inning on the way to a 5-1 loss.

Despite the disappointing way things came to a close, it was a phenomenal spring for Troup, and first-year head coach Tanner Glisson was glad to help send the seniors out in style.

“Those seniors have done so much for us,” Glisson said. “I just told them in there (after the North Oconee series), I did everything in my power to take them out on a winning note. That was the big thing. That mattered a lot to me.”

It was also a fantastic season for Callaway, which finished second in Region 5-AA and reached the state semifinals for the third straight completed season.

Callaway though its season was over when it lostt game three of a third-round playoff series to Thomasville. The day after that series ended, though, Callaway found out that Thomasville had to forfeit the winner-take-all game three because one of its pitchers threw too many pitches.

Callaway (24-14) beat Jeff Davis 4-0 in the series opener before losing the second game 3-0.

In game three, Jeff Davis scored the winning run on a walk-off hit in the seventh inning to beat Callaway 1-0.

The loss put an end to a whirl-wind few days for the Cavaliers, who thought their season was over, and then had to re-focus and play a formidable opponent that would go on to win the state championship.

“We’re down now, but I’m so proud of them,” Callaway head coach Dusty Hubbard said. “We were put in a tough situation (after the forfeit). We lost a day of practice, but we battled back, and we gave them a hell of a series.”

Callaway finished fourth in the Coaches Box Georgia poll, and it was fifth in the Georgia Dugout Preview poll and sixth in the Maxpreps.com rankings.

LaGrange (21-12) had a banner season as well, finishing second in Region 2-AAAA to Troup and advancing to the second round of the playoffs.

LaGrange swept Jenkins in the first round, setting up a road showdown with West Laurens.

LaGrange lost the series opener 5-2 before winning game two 4-3, and West Laurens won the series-deciding game three 17-7.

In the Georgia Dugout Preview poll, LaGrange wasn’t in the top-10, but it was one of two teams along with Perry that was considered for a spot in the poll.

LaGrange was 12th in the final Class AAAA maxpreps.com rankings.