It’s been quite the two weeks for Georgia’s baseball team.

Winners of eight straight – including SEC sweeps of Vanderbilt and South Carolina – the Bulldogs (38-12, 16-11) are one of the nation’s hottest teams.

“I’ve just kept challenging our guys; we’ve just got to come in and play our style of baseball,” head coach Wes Johnson said. “You look at Texas A&M and Tennessee, they’ve got two home losses, and we were able to get one. Those are the things you talk about, just to get them to know that they can play anywhere.”

So, what’s next?

We’ll start in the SEC, beginning with this week’s series against Florida, with the first pitch set for 6 p.m. on Thursday.

The series features two of the game’s best players in Georgia’s Charlie Condon (.454-34-72) and Jac Caglianone (.418-28-55) of Florida. These standouts project as two of the top four picks in July’s Major League Draft.

It was Caglianone’s former record of 33 home runs set last year that Condon recently broke. A pair of former Team USA teammates last summer, Condon and Caglianone are also good friends.

However, all friendships are put aside anytime the Bulldogs and Gators get together. There’s a lot a stake for both teams.

For the Gators, Florida needs at least two wins – either this week in Athens or in next week’s SEC Tournament to give itself a chance at receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

But there’s another problem.

Florida’s overall record is 26-25. The Gators must finish at .500 to qualify for the postseason. A series sweep at the hands of Georgia would leave Florida needing a miracle run next week in Hoover to give itself a chance.

Georgia, meanwhile, will finish third in the SEC East, and if the SEC Tournament started today would be the fifth seed with a first game scheduled for next Tuesday night against the 12th seed.

The Bulldogs became the fifth seed after Arkansas defeated Mississippi State, dropping MSU (33-18, 15-12) one game behind Georgia for seeding purposes.

Georgia still has a shot to be the No. 4 team, with a bye going into double-elimination play, ahead of Texas A&M (42-10, 17-10). For that to happen, the Bulldogs would need to sweep Florida and have the Aggies lose two games this weekend to Arkansas. The series is being played in College Station, Texas. Texas A&M holds the tiebreaker over Georgia via their series victory over the Bulldogs in April.

Of course, there are huge NCAA Tournament ramifications.

With 16 conference wins, Georgia has already assured itself a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs also seem assured of serving as host for one of the 16 NCAA Regionals.

But after their sweep at South Carolina, there’s suddenly more on the line that could potentially set the Bulldogs up even better for their journey which they hope ends with a trip to the College World Series.

“I’m not going to worry about that,” Johnson told UGASports. “We’re going to worry about Thursday and winning against the Florida Gators. Actually, not even winning. I talk to the guys about playing a complete game, about playing one pitch at a time. If you do all those things right and believe in ourselves with confidence, we’re going to be in a lot of games and the scoreboard will take care of itself.”

According to WarrenNolan.com Georgia boasts an RPI of No. 2 and strength of schedule which sits the Bulldogs at No. 8.

A week ago, it was thought that Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas A&M would be the only four teams to receive one of the eight national seeds, which assures those teams of staying home throughout the Super Regionals, where teams take that final step to earn a trip to the College World Series.

By sweeping the Commodores and Gamecocks, the Bulldog have now forced the issue, and are now in the conversation for a national seed – providing they win the series against the Gators.

Kentucky (No. 1), Georgia (No. 2), Texas A&M (No. 3), Texas A&M (No 4), and Tennessee (No. 6) make up five of the top six RPIs.

Although that might not be the news other conferences – including the ACC – want to hear, both Clemson (No. 7 RPI) and Florida State (No. 8) lost series this weekend. The Tigers were swept by Wake Forest (No. 9).

Another school in the running, East Carolina (No. 12 RPI), was swept this weekend by Tulane.