The Lumpkin County High baseball team is in second place right now in the Region 7-AAA standings, but the Indians (14-1, 12-1) still control their own destiny in terms of winning the school’s first region baseball title.

The Indians’ only loss this season was to current front-runner Creekview (14-2, 13-1) by an 8-1 score March 6 in Canton. Lumpkin County gets its chance to even the score with the Grizzlies in tonight’s game in Dahlonega.

A win would move Lumpkin County one step closer to playing host to its first state playoff game in school history.

With 11 games still remaining on the region schedule, Indians coach Nicky Jenkins understands the schedule doesn’t get much easier with playoff contender North Hall paying a visit Saturday, followed by a trip to West Forsyth (11-3, 11-2) on Monday.

"It doesn’t get any bigger than this," Jenkins said. "Our thing is that we don’t treat any game different than the next.

"Every game is just as important as the next."

Breathing room

There’s still plenty of games left on the 7-AAA schedule, but the top four are starting to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.

If the season ended today, Creekview, Lumpkin County, West Forsyth and Flowery Branch (11-4, 10-4) would take the four playoff spots in the region.

Creekview is atop the region standings thanks to wins against Lumpkin County and West Forsyth in the first run through the region schedule. The Grizzlies only loss came at the hands of Flowery Branch on March 16.

Creekview’s remaining games against Flowery Branch and West Forsyth are both at home.

West Forsyth is firmly in third place with losses to Creekview and Lumpkin County in the first trip through the region schedule.

Flowery Branch has a two-game lead on the fourth-place spot, with both games still remaining this season against West Forsyth. The Falcons lost both regular season meetings against Lumpkin County this season.

On the bubble

North Hall and Gainesville, both at 8-6 in the region, are the only outsiders with a realistic shot of getting back in the playoff picture. Neither is in better region standing that the other at this point.

Gainesville has lost all five games against the top four in the region, but won the only head-to-head game against the Trojans.

On the other hand, North Hall managed to split the season series with Flowery Branch, with both games against Lumpkin County still remaining.

Still perfect

Lakeview Academy (13-1, 7-0 Region 8-A) is trying its best to run away from the pack in Region 8-A. This week, the Lions picked up wins against Hebron Christian and Social Circle, and will play Towns County (3-9, 1-5) today.

The Lions already have a head-to-head win against second place Commerce (9-5, 6-1), with the second meeting to come April 24.