Mississippi State’s final SEC series with Texas A&M kicks off Thursday evening and the Bulldogs are playing for one thing — a spot in the SEC Tournament.

It won’t be an easy task as the Diamond Dawgs (8-19) currently sit in 13th place in the SEC, and two games behind Georgia and Missouri (10-17), who now have the final two spots in Hoover.

While it may be a long shot, the Bulldogs still have a puncher’s chance with both Georgia and Missouri taking on difficult opponents in the final weekend. UGA hosts an LSU team that ranks #5 in the country despite dropping their last two series while Mizzou travels to The Plains to take on a red-hot Auburn club with four straight series victories.

The easiest way for the Diamond Dawgs to get into the SEC Tournament would be to sweep Texas A&M and hope that either Georgia or Missouri gets swept. The chances of that happening are very unlikely, however, as Mississippi State’s only sweep this season came against Lipscomb while the Aggies have only been swept by Arkansas and Tennessee.

The more likely scenario is that it will come down to a tiebreaker. Since Mississippi State did not face either of the two SEC East programs this season, it will come down to the highest-seeded common opponent. As it currently sits, both Georgia and Mizzou would hold the tiebreaker. Georgia swept Arkansas while State got swept, and Missouri went 1-2 against Vanderbilt while the Bulldogs also got swept in that series.

The tiebreaker against Georgia could take a shift if LSU manages to take care of business in Athens with a sweep this weekend. LSU currently sits two wins behind Arkansas but due to a rainout with South Carolina they’d have a higher winning percentage if they finish with the sane amount of wins, so if Arkansas drops their series at Vanderbilt, Mississippi State would have the tiebreaker over Georgia.

The tiebreaker with Missouri could also be broken, though less likely. Mizzou got swept by South Carolina while Mississippi State managed to salvage one game, but the Gamecocks currently sit two games behind Vanderbilt. For the Bulldogs to get the edge in the tiebreaker, they’ll need South Carolina to win their series with Tennessee and Vanderbilt to lose to Arkansas. If both South Carolina and Vanderbilt finish with the same amount of wins, The Gamecocks have the edge.

In the event of a three-way tie with Missouri and Georgia, Mizzou would get one of the two spots because they won their head-to-head series with UGA, so Mississippi State will hope that LSU manages to jump Arkansas to get their tiebreaker over Georgia.