ATHENS – Georgia baseball has been a Goliath at home this season and appears to be a series win away from bringing postseason baseball to Foley Field.

The No. 10-ranked Bulldogs (40-13, 16-11 SEC) are trying to prove themselves worthy of home-field advantage through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The final regular season series, which starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday against Texas A&M, will be key in defining UGA’s postseason fate.

And Georgia will try to avoid making the same mistake it did in a very similar spot last season.

The Bulldogs lost a home series to a resurgent but unranked Florida team to end the 2024 regular season. Georgia finished with 17 SEC wins and still earned a national seed, but the Bulldogs might need a win or two more to seal the same fate in 2025.

To be clear, there is no “magic number” for a national seed. But a combination of Georgia’s top-five RPI ranking, at least 18 SEC wins, and the recency bias of a series win figures to be enough against the rest of the national field.

Anything less could leave Georgia’s postseason fate up to the discretion of the selection committee. Seventeen SEC wins were enough for Georgia last season, but Mississippi State didn’t even host a regional with the same SEC record.

That’s what makes this series so important for UGA, and why repeating its mistakes from the 2024 Florida series could be costly.

Hosting the first round of the NCAA Tournament is a nice start, but staking a claim on a national seed – and home-field advantage through the super regionals – this weekend would be a massive postseason advantage.

There are more similarities to be found between last season’s Florida series and Georgia’s upcoming set against Texas A&M.

The Bulldogs had 16 SEC wins entering both series. A top-16 hosting seed in the NCAA Tournament seemed likely, but a top-eight national seed probably required more winning.

UGA also entered both final weekends without losing a home series.

The 2024 Bulldogs started their final regular season series with a 29-3 home record. The 2025 team is 27-3 at Foley Field entering Thursday night.

The similarities continue for Georgia’s opponents, too.

Both 2024 Florida and 2025 Texas A&M underwhelmed preseason expectations but played better in the second half of the SEC seasons. Both teams boasted rosters more talented than their SEC record indicated.

The 2024 Gators and 2025 Aggies also lost their previous series, making the trip to Athens all the more essential to their NCAA Tournament hopes.

Indeed, Florida last season and Texas A&M this weekend share one major trait. Both are fighting for their postseason lives while Georgia tries to lock up a national seed.

UGA coach Wes Johnson recognized the similarities but was quick to decipher the differences between his first two teams in Athens. The longtime pitching coach isn’t against drawing from experience but explained why he didn’t mention last season’s loss to the Gators.

“So it’s a new team, so to draw back on that, I think … some guys would go, ‘What even?’” Johnson said. “They’d have to go look and see what happened in that series. So now, like I say, our focus right now is 100% on playing a clean game on Thursday.”

Johnson does know that, like the 2024 Gators, Texas A&M is arriving in Athens on survival mode.

The Aggies (27-23, 10-17 SEC) need at least two wins to put themselves in postseason contention. Only three SEC teams with 12 conference wins have made the NCAA Tournament since 1999.

That number drops to zero for teams with 11 SEC wins or less.

“Probably as desperate as you can be, right? I mean, they’ve got to win,” Johnson said. “So, yeah, I’ve got to think they’re going to come in and we’re going to get every punch they’ve got.”

Georgia was one of six SEC teams projected for a national seed by D1Baseball, On3 and Baseball America. UGA, LSU, Texas, Auburn, Arkansas and Vanderbilt were all predicted to earn top-eight seeds.

A series win against Texas A&M would keep Georgia in the top six SEC teams, further helping their national seed chances.