Athens — Rich Poythress' eyes went right when he walked into Foley Field Wednesday morning.

He had been hoping two years and two days for a sign to appear on the right field wall. And finally he saw it.

Right there alongside the SEC Champions lettering was the year 2008.

"It feels good to know that that is there," Poythress, a first baseman, said. "And you know that it is going to be there forever. Nobody is going to forget."

It has been a season to remember for Georgia. The Bulldogs (34-17-1, 19-7-1) won their third SEC title of the century Sunday. They did it with a week to go in the season. Now Alabama (30-23, 14-13) is headed to Foley Field for a three-game set starting at 6:30 p.m. today. And the bar has been raised.

"They know what is at stake this weekend," said Georgia coach David Perno. "We are playing for national seedings."

Right now Georgia is almost a lock to host the regional and sub regional. Early projections have the Bulldogs seeded seventh among the eight national seeds.

"A lot of that is out of our hands because a lot of teams have had better years or as good a year as we have had and have had more wins," Perno said of the seeding. "So what is realistic for us is to play good baseball for us at home this weekend and then go do out thing in Hoover (at the SEC Tournament)."

If Georgia can do that it sets itself up for a couple of milestones. With just one win over Alabama, Georgia could set the school record for winning percentage in conference games at 69 percent. The previous record was 67 percent by the 2001 team.

"That would be a huge honor," Perno said. "I am hard pressed to say we are ever going to be in this position again. You can't ever expect something like this."

Looking slightly further ahead Georgia also has a chance to win the SEC Tournament for the first time in school history.

"You are wanting to put you program with LSU with South Carolina, with Ole Miss some of these teams that are traditionally in the hunt every year you want to put your name with that group," Perno said. "We need to win an SEC Tournament."

Then there are the goals beyond that.

"The ultimate goal is to get yourself to Omaha (the College World Series) and give yourself a chance to try and win it all," Poythress said. "This team, they are a pretty good team and had a chance to do a lot and I think everybody realizes we have a lot to do and a lot to accomplish before this thing is over."