Hoover, Ala. — Georgia took its SEC trophy and went home.

Quickly.

AP (ENLARGE)

UGA coach David Perno argues with umpire Tony Walsh over a strikeout in Thursday's game.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

The Bulldogs and all of their sound of fury during the regular season evidently signified nothing in the SEC Tournament. Georgia was bounced in two games. The second, a 5-2 loss to Alabama, may have been more humbling than the first, a 4-1 loss to Ole Miss.

Both came in remarkably the same fashion. Georgia received decent pitching efforts from the starters and no hitting. The Bulldogs totaled 10 hits in two games. Only three were extra-base hits — all in the second game, two in the ninth inning.

Not even Gordon Beckham, the conference's player of the year, could do anything. The junior, who entered with a nine-game hitting streak, had one hit in the tournament and it came with two outs in the top of the ninth against Alabama.

"Our history has never been good here for whatever reason," said Georgia coach David Perno. "We have never played well here. In '04 we scored one run in three games and actually won a game. We have always had a tough time here, and I don't know why."

Georgia had hits only in the first, eighth and ninth against Alabama's Austin Hyatt.

"I would say he pitched a heckuva a game," Beckham said. "He is the same guy we faced a week ago, and he made his pitches when he needed to. He did all the right stuff to keep us in check. I guess you have got to hit more balls hard when he is going like that."

Georgia clearly didn't. Two reason might be the injuries. Two of Georgia's top players. Matt Cerione and Rich Poythress, were out with injuries. Cerione, who suffered a mild concussion against Ole Miss, has been one of Georgia's hottest hitters the last month and anchors the bottom of the lineup. Poythress, who has a hand injury, protects Beckham at the front of the lineup.

Both are expected back for the postseason. Whether Georgia plays at home in the postseason is now in doubt. The Bulldogs won the outright regular-season SEC title. In years past those teams have always played host to an NCAA regional and super regional. (Georgia tied for the title in 2004 and didn't host the super regional.)

But Georgia has not done much lately to impress the selection committee. The Bulldogs have dropped four of their past five games against conference opponents. They did beat then-No. 25 Georgia Tech in the past two weeks.

"We had our chances," Perno said. "If we would have had one win last week or a win here we could have sealed it."

Instead Georgia is wavering between being one of the eight national seeds and being shipped somewhere.

"It doesn't really matter where you play or who you play, they are going to be good," Perno said.

The good for Georgia is that its pitching has rounded into shape. Nick Montgomery has emerged as a possible third-day starter, and Stephen Dodson appears to be in a groove. Also the bullpen, which had been hit-or-miss, received strong outings from Justin Grimm, Alex McRee and Dean Weaver.

"It was a tough couple of games, but on the bright side, the pitching is where it was about a month ago, and that is what we needed to see," Perno said. "We just need to get the lineup in order and hitting like we were a couple of months ago."

The NCAA Selection show is set for Monday.