A visibly exhausted Scott Stricklin was asked to explain the difference in winning and losing Saturday’s regular season-finale against Missouri.

“Smiling and not smiling,” said Stricklin, after his Bulldogs climbed off the deck with two runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat Missouri 11-10, in what players called a must-win.

That would not have been hyperbole.

Had the Bulldogs (35-20, 15-15) lost, then Georgia would have finished below .500 in the SEC, and with four straight SEC series losses, would not have been a sure thing to qualify for the 64-team NCAA Tournament.

That’s no longer a concern.

Georgia will head into next week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover as the No. 2 team in the SEC East, following LSU’s sweep of Vanderbilt and South Carolina’s 4-1 victory over Florida in Gainesville.

The Gators and Bulldogs finished an identical 15-15 in league play, but with Georgia’s series victory earlier this year, earned the No. 2 spot in the division and will enter the SEC Tournament as the No. 6 seed and play Alabama in its opening game Tuesday morning at 10:30 ET.

Catcher Fernando Gonzalez said the game was one Georgia had to win.

“I believe that it was,” said Gonzalez, whose grounder to second was thrown into left field by Nander De Sedas allowing pinch-runner Dwight Allen II to score the winning run. “To get some momentum for the tournament, I think we needed that.”

Stricklin, who saw Missouri score nine of the next 10 runs to trail 10-7 going into bottom of the eighth inning, agreed.

“It’s just amazing the things that go through your head,” Stricklin said. “I think all of our players were feeling that emotion of being down. We were feeling really good at 6-1, then all of a sudden, its 7-3 and 10-7. You there saying ‘Oh no, how are letting this one get away. But the guys stepped up, they kept picking things up.

“A win like that makes all the difference in the world. Just think of what the feeling would be right now if we didn’t find a way to win that game. I hate that we lost the series; we didn’t play that well, obviously. But that was the biggest game of the year, and we found a way to win, so our season continues.”

Down 10-7 in the eighth, a two-run homer but Cory Acton brought Georgia within 10-9 before the Bulldogs rallied one more time to pull out the victory.

Following a leadoff double by Connor Tate, a great play by Tiger shortstop Josh Day saved a potential run, bringing Parks Harber to the plate.

Harber delivered Tate with a soft single to left, and following a walk to Chaney Rogers, Gonzalez came to bat with pinch-runner Allen II at second.

Gonzalez would hit a sharp grounder to second base, but in his haste to turn a potential double play, De Sedas threw the ball into left field, allowing the winning run to score.

“Getting to that .500 mark is big-time,” said Rogers, who had a key bases-clearing triple earlier in the game. “With a comeback win, I won’t say I wouldn’t have it any other way, but in a game that crazy, it’s awesome to get a win.”

Not all of Saturday’s victory was quite so memorable.

Bulldog pitchers struggled throughout the game, including starter Liam Sullivan who did not make it out of the third inning, loading the bases with nobody out.

Fortunately, reliever Jaden Woods would escape the inning without any runs allowed.

Georgia’s bats would respond in the inning’s bottom half with a six runs, before the Tigers (28-23, 10-20) took an 8-7 lead with seven runs in the seventh.

Talk about an ugly inning.

Three hit batters (of seven in the game) and three walks by three led to Missouri tying the game off Jack Gowen and Davis Rokose with the first four runs crossing the plate without the benefit of a hit.

Missouri’s first hit of the inning didn’t come until Torin Montgomery’s single sent Josh Day scurrying around third to a waiting Gonzalez at the plate.

The throw beat Day, but during a collision with Gonzalez, who was sent sprawling, the ball bounced away. Day was nevertheless initially called out on the play, but following the review was called save and Missouri had a one-run lead.

“They called him out (Day) here because they thought he should have slid. You can’t run into the catcher if the catcher has clear control of the ball,” Stricklin said. “But they ruled in Birmingham that Fernando did not have control of the ball. I thought he called it and it got knocked out of his glove. On the field, they made the call, and that was the explanation they gave me.”

A two-run double by De Sedas pushed the lead to 10-7 before Acton’s homer and scoreless ninth by Chandler Marsh (4-1) set the Bulldogs for their final heroics.

“The magic number is 15 wins in the league and that’s almost the motto of al the league coaches,” Stricklin said. “It didn’t look good (Saturday), but we found a way to get a big win.”

Boxscore

All times Central

Tuesday, May 24

Game 1 (9:30 a.m.) - #6 Georgia vs. #11 Alabama [SEC Network]

Game 2 (TBD) - #7 Florida vs. #10 South Carolina [SEC Network]

Game 3 (4:30 p.m.) - #8 Vanderbilt vs. #9 Ole Miss [SEC Network]

Game 4 (TBD) - #5 Auburn vs. #12 Kentucky [SEC Network]

Wednesday, May 25

Game 5 (9:30 a.m.) - #3 Arkansas vs. Winner Game 1 [SEC Network]

Game 6 (TBD) - #2 Texas A&M vs. Winner Game 2 [SEC Network]

Game 7 (4:30 p.m.) - #1 Tennessee vs. Winner Game 3 [SEC Network]

Game 8 (TBD) - #4 LSU vs. Winner Game 4 [SEC Network]

Thursday, May 26

Game 9 (9:30 a.m.) - Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6 [SEC Network]

Game 10 (TBD) - Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 [SEC Network]

Game 11 (4:30 p.m.) - Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 [SEC Network]

Game 12 (TBD) - Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 [SEC Network]

Friday, May 27

Game 13 (3:00 p.m.) - Winner Game 9 vs. Loser Game 11 [SEC Network]

Game 14 (TBD) - Winner Game 10 vs. Loser 12 [SEC Network]

Saturday, May 28

Game 15 (Noon) - Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 11 [SEC Network]

Game 16 ( TBD) - Winner Game 14 vs. Winner Game 12 [SEC Network]

Sunday, May 29

Game 17 (2 p.m.) - Winner Game 15 vs. Winner Game 16 [ESPN2]