When Georgia takes the field tonight against Texas A&M, head coach Wes Johnson expects a different outcome from what happened last Friday at Alabama.

The Bulldogs won the opener in Tuscaloosa 19-3, but they dropped the next two due to hitters falling back into bad habits, failing to hit with runners in scoring positions, and making too many mental mistakes.

The program still needs another win to reach the magic number of 18 league victories—presumably what it would take for Georgia to be a national seed—so the Bulldogs need to eliminate those areas to reach their stated goal of a trip to Omaha and the College World Series.

“I think it just shows that you gotta keep working,” Johnson said. “There's that old saying, the hay's in the barn, but we gotta take the mindset it's never in the barn, right? We've got to keep growing the grass, cutting the hay, and keep working and try to get better each day.”

Here’s what’s at stake for the Bulldogs (41-13, 17-11) entering the final two regular-season games:

• A top-eight national seed: According to DIBaseball.com and Baseball America, one more victory over Texas A&M would assure the Bulldogs a national seed, which would allow Georgia to host through the Super Regionals for a trip to Omaha.

• Seeding in the SEC Tournament: With the addition of Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC Tournament is now a single-elimination tournament. Should the Bulldogs finish in the Top 4, Georgia would receive a double-bye and not have to play until Thursday in Hoover, Ala.

Speaking of the SEC Tournament, it’s a logjam for the top four spots. Texas earned the regular-season championship with its win over Oklahoma on Thursday night. But spots two through five are separated by just one game. Arkansas is currently in second place with a league record of 18-10, with LSU, Georgia, and Vanderbilt all sitting 17-11.

Auburn and Tennessee are both 16-12.

The recipe for Georgia is simple: the Bulldogs “just need” to defeat Texas A&M in their final two games or avoid being locked in a two-way tie with Vanderbilt. Any tie with the Commodores would drop Georgia below Vanderbilt in the league standings due to their sweep in Nashville a few weeks ago.

After that, it gets really interesting.

In the event of a three-way tie, if the three involved teams have not played each other, then ties are broken by which team has the highest winning percentage in games against common opponents.

For example, should Georgia, LSU, and Vanderbilt finish with identical league marks, Georgia would be ranked higher based on its record against common opponents.

However, say it’s Georgia, Vanderbilt, and Auburn. In that event, Vanderbilt would be ranked higher based on having a higher winning percentage against common foes.

Confusing? It can be. But as long as Georgia wins, the Bulldogs would finish no lower than fifth in the SEC, with a good chance at fourth or higher.

But Johnson’s not worried about that.

He’s more concerned with his Bulldogs playing their best baseball.

“Our team's done a lot, right, this year, and we know it,” Johnson said of his Bulldogs, which currently hold the nation’s top RPI. “I just kept telling our guys, look, they’ve got to get us out, too. They’ve got to get us out 27 times, and we're really good. Just start believing in yourself.”

Friday’s game was a good example of how good those bats can be.

Despite falling behind 3-0 and later trailing 4-2, Georgia used three home runs to outslug the Aggies, 10-6.

Robbie Burnett’s three-run homer keyed the outburst, along with homers by Nolan McCarthy and Daniel Jackson.

“Tip your hat to our offense there in the third. I thought what Slate (Alford) and Tre (Phelps) did right there to get that knee going was outstanding,” Johnson said. “Tre hit a tough pitch. That pitch was in, but he pulled his hands in and smoked it. Obviously, Dan Jackson's ball, I mean, Daniel, that ball may be over the tennis court, so he crushed that thing. But that's what our offense is capable of doing when we don't change, when we don't stay in the strike zone, when we stay disciplined, and when we just lock in and play baseball.”

…Alford enters tonight’s game having reached base in 37 straight contests.

…Reliever Zach Harris has settled in as the Bulldogs' closer. Over the last seven innings, Harris has allowed just four hits, zero run,s with 14 strikeouts.

…First pitch tonight is 6:02 p.m. Saturday’s finale is set for 12:02.