Coach David Perno was a player on the last Georgia team to claim a national championship in baseball, with the Diamond Dogs accomplishing the feat in 1990. But he said comparing what happened 18 years ago to his team’s current situation just doesn’t work.

Simply put, there is no comparison.

“It’s a lot different,” said Perno, whose No. 6-ranked club begins a best-of-3 national championship series today against Fresno State, 6-1 winners over North Carolina. “The venue is different, the tension is different, the format is different — there really aren’t a lot of comparisons. But I couldn’t ask any more of our players than what they’ve done.”

The Bulldogs (44-23-1) earned a spot in the championship set with a 10-8 victory over Stanford Saturday at Rosenblatt Stadium, and no one can suggest Georgia backed its way in. The team competed in what is generally considered the toughest bracket of the College World Series and stands at 3-0 with two victories over Stanford and one over top-ranked Miami.

“Our bracket was packed with traditional powerhouses,” he said. “When you have to deal with Miami, Stanford and Florida State, you’re playing with the best. You couldn’t ask for a tougher bracket to get through.”

But thus far the Bulldogs’ best has been better than the opposition. When timely hits are needed Georgia gets them, and the bullpen continues to bamboozle hitters. This season — and the CWS — is playing like a polar opposite of last year’s losing campaign.

“I think the mental game is what we’re so much better at this year,” said junior shortstop Gordon Beckham, a National Player of the Year finalist. “Last year if something could go wrong we thought it and it happened. This year, I don’t know, we’re thinking happy thoughts, I guess. We’re playing as a team this year.”

Ryan Peisel, who works both first and third for UGA, agreed.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many leads we blew last year in the ninth inning. That’s one of those things where this year we really have stayed on everybody throughout the game, even when we get a lead, to keep pressing and keep scoring. It’s not over until the third out is recorded in the ninth. Now, just mentally, I think we are all a little bit tougher coming through the season we went through last year.”

In their three-game run through the CWS the Bulldogs have relied on outstanding bullpen play to advance. While no starter has lasted more than four innings, the firemen have made that a non-issue.

“It’s who we are,” Perno said. “We had a streak in league play where we went 40 innings without our bullpen giving up an earned run. Our bullpen has been phenomenal, especially in the middle innings.”

Saturday Georgia was led by an offensive outburst that accounted for 10 runs on 15 hits. Rich Poythress led the charge with a 4-for-5 day at the plate that included three doubles, 4 RBIs and two runs scored. The three doubles tied a CWS game record set in 2005.

Peisel (3-for-5, 3 runs) and Joey Lewis (2-for-5) each added 3 RBIs, while Beckham and Mile Starr each had two hits and two runs scored for the Bulldogs.

The four hits by Poythress and two safeties by Starr tied career highs.

Beckham’s single in the third extended his hitting streak to 12 games, while Lyle Allen’s single in the fifth kept his hitting intact at 10 games.

Nathan Moreau got the start for Georgia against Stanford but did not factor into the decision after working two and one-third innings, allowing one run on two hits with three walks and three Ks.

Dean Weaver pitched three and two-thirds innings in relief, yielding three runs on six hits without issuing a base on balls and fanning seven to get the win.

Alex McRee contributed two scoreless innings of relief.

Now Georgia must win two more games to bring another spring national championship trophy back to Athens, joining the program’s titlists in gymnastics, men’s tennis and equestrian.

“We’re in the national championship series,” Beckham said. “You couldn’t ask for more. What we want to do is play on the last day, and that’s all we can ask. The chips are going to fall the way they will, but we’re playing on the last day.”