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Give Florida and Kentucky credit for one thing: Neither of them was going down Saturday without a fight. And in the end, the No. 1 seed beat the surprise team of the tournament in a back-and-forth game that featured three lead changes in the fifth inning or later -- setting the field for the SEC Championship Game tomorrow.
It's LSU vs. Florida, two of the best teams in the league this year and arguably the two best performers in Hoover. LSU run-ruled two teams en route to a perfect run through the playoff that featured a 29-4 run differential; while Florida did take a loss, the regular-season SEC championship rebounded nicely.
The Gators managed to hold A.J. Reed hitless Saturday while overcoming a pair of errors and base-running plays that could be classified as blunders, though in some cases only because relying on tournament umpires to get the call right on has been a mistake.
But win Florida did, and now they get a chance to defend their regular-season title in the final game of the conference playoff. With any luck, the game between two of the conference heavyweights this season will be as good as the battle between the champion and the underdog was on Saturday.