Postseason hopes are on the line as UA visits ’Dogs

TUSCALOOSA | It’s hard to measure just how much the University of Alabama baseball team could gain — or lose — against the Georgia Bulldogs this weekend.

The Crimson Tide will play a three-game series in Athens beginning tonight (5:30 p.m.) if weather permits and continuing on Friday and Saturday, and all of Alabama’s postseason hopes — of both the Southeastern Conference and NCAA variety — are on the line.

Here are the scenarios for Alabama (30-23 overall, 14-13 SEC) heading into the final regular-season series against Georgia, which is 19-7-1 in SEC play and has already clinched the league championship.

If Alabama sweeps all three games from Georgia, the Crimson Tide would clinch the SEC Tournament bid with no lower than a No. 4 seed. An unexpected sweep would also go a long way to bolstering Alabama’s chances for an NCAA at-large berth. The Crimson Tide is currently a “bubble” team with a No. 52 RPI rating, but a sweep of Georgia (currently No. 10 in the RPI) would elevate that number significantly.

Two wins in the Georgia series would also clinch a spot in ther SEC Tournament for the Crimson Tide. At 16-14, UA would be assured of finishing ahead of Auburn, Tennessee, Mississippi State and the loser of the Ole Miss-Kentucky series.

If Alabama wins only one game in Athens, the Crimson Tide will need some help to get to Hoover. Although there are a number of scenarios for UA to make the SEC Tournament at 15-15, the likeliest would involve two losses for either Ole Miss (at Kentucky), Florida (hosting Vanderbilt) or Arkansas (at last-place Mississippi State) this week.

If Alabama gets swept by the Bulldogs this weekend, it would probably take a Kentucky sweep of Ole Miss or a Vanderbilt sweep of Florida to let the Crimson Tide survive with a spot in the tournament.

“We just need to win,” Tide coach Jim Wells said earlier this week.

“If we win two, I think we are in good shape. If we win one, we need to do some scoreboard watching.”

While Georgia is a formidable opponent, Alabama has won its last four SEC series, taking two of three games from Mississippi State, Auburn, Arkansas and Florida.

“We’d love to make it five straight series,” said catcher/designated hitter Alex Avila. “We aren’t sitting here saying we need to win one game. It’s our goal to win every game. We’re only a game-and-a-half behind LSU [in the SEC West] so maybe a good outing at Georgia would put us in a position to overtake them.”

Getting any wins at all at Georgia will not be easy. The Bulldogs — coming off a 3-2 win over Georgia Tech in front of more than 22,000 fans at Turner Field on Tuesday night — feature two certain All-America selections in shortstop Gordon Beckham and closer Joshua Fields and still have plenty of incentive despite clinching the SEC title.

“I don’t know how they’ll approach the weekend, but they have a lot to play for,” Wells said. “It’s not like it used to be. You can’t relax. Teams still need to win because of the (NCAA) Super Regional and national seeding.

“Georgia is a good, veteran club. They are deep in pitching and you better be ahead by the seventh inning because of their closer.”

Fields, a senior righthander, is 1-1 with an SEC-leading 16 saves. He has allowed just two earned runs in 27 innings of work (0.66 ERA) and teams are hitting just .079 against him.

Beckham, the team’s leading hitter, has slugged 22 home runs and has a .401 batting average. He also leads the SEC in on-base percentage (.508) and slugging percentage (.817).

Alabama will start Miers Quigley in tonight’s series opener although Wells suggested earlier this week that the Tide may explore several options for the Friday and Saturday games.

Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0225.

Alabama at Georgia

When: Today, 5:30 p.m.;

Friday, 5:30 p.m.;

Saturday, 1 p.m.

Where: Athens, Ga.

Records: Alabama 30-23, 14-13; Georgia 34-17, 19-7-1

Radio: 1420 AM