It took until the 8th inning of Tennessee’s semifinal matchup with Kentucky for the Vols to pull away. But in doing so, they fulfilled the expectations of almost everyone in reaching the SEC Tournament final. The same can’t be said of their opponent, No. 8 seed Florida, which looked all but done when they were 1-hit in a 10-0 loss to Texas A&M on Thursday. But the Gators put up 27 runs in 3 consecutive wins and earned their matchup with the Vols. Here’s the recap from a busy Saturday in Hoover:

Florida 11, Alabama 6 (Alabama eliminated): Florida opened the day facing Alabama. An inning in, it was 4-4 and the teams looked on their way to a football score. The game was competitive throughout, with the teams tying 6-6 in the 3rd, and UF holding a 7-6 lead going into the 9th when a 4-run Florida finish pushed the final to 11-6. Bama ends up right smack on the SEC bubble, winning 12 regular-season games and 2 more in Hoover. Will it be enough?

MVP: UF’s Wyatt Langford, who homered to lead off the game and then homered again to lead off the 2nd inning. He added another RBI on a 3rd inning groundout.

Kentucky 7, LSU 2 (LSU eliminated): Kentucky lost to LSU 11-6 on Thursday but earned a rematch by beating Vandy. This time, the UK pitching staff held up its end of the bargain, no-hitting the Tigers for 6 innings while the bats racked up a 7-0 lead. UK held on for an easy 7-2 victory. The loss could knock LSU out of a regional hosting gig, and Kentucky, with a dozen regular-season SEC wins, hopes a 15th total conference win earns them an NCAA Tournament spot.

MVP: UK pitcher Tyler Bosma, whose 6 no-hit innings with 10 strikeouts keyed Kentucky’s victory.

Semifinals recap

Florida 9, Texas A&M 0: Florida then faced Texas A&M, which had embarrassed UF a couple days ago. Revenge was sweet. UF scored runs in every inning from the 2nd through the 7th en route to a 9-0 win. By winning a spot in the SEC title game (and by virtue of underwhelming performances from some of the league’s other better teams) the Gators likely earned a regional hosting spot, despite posting just a 15-15 record in SEC regular-season play.

MVP: Florida starting pitcher Timmy Manning, who threw 5 shutout innings in his first appearance on the mound since April 5th.

Tennessee 12, Kentucky 2: Kentucky earned a matchup with Tennessee in the other semifinal. The Wildcats are still the only team to best the Vols in a series and gave UT all it could handle … for 7 innings. UT managed single runs in the 1st and 4th innings, but UK tied it with a 2-run rally in the 5th inning.

But in the 8th, UK’s bullpen depth worn out and the Vols put together a 4-run inning, which they followed with 6 more runs in the 9th for a 12-2 victory.

MVP: UT shortstop Cortland Lawson, whose 2-run double put the game out of reach in the 8th inning.

Championship game preview

So after all is said and done, it’s Tennessee and Florida in the finale. No team that has played on opening day has won the tournament. Florida could become the first.

UF’s pitching depth is somewhat suspect with Hunter Barco down for the season. Is there another Timmy Manning type left? It would seem likely that righty Brandon Sproat will get the ball, as he was superb on Tuesday as the Gators squeaked past South Carolina (8 1/3 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 7 strikeouts). With Langford and Jud Fabian ripping opposing pitches all over the place, the UF offense (since it got 1-hit by A&M) is doing what it’s used to doing.

Tennessee has worked through its starting rotation, but left its bullpen ready to roll on Sunday. Speculation has been that hard-throwing righty Ben Joyce (he of the 105 mph fastball) will get the starting nod. UT’s offense has shown some diversity in Hoover, putting up runs by more than just waiting for 3-run blasts as the Vols had the luxury of doing throughout the regular season.

UT looks to claim its first SEC Tournament title since 1995. Florida has 7 titles, but none since 2015. A Gators win would pretty much lock down a regional hosting gig. UT swept Florida in Gainesville in late April, but that was the last series the Gators lost. UF putting up just 6 total runs in those 3 April games isn’t a great sign.

Prediction: UF’s bats are as fearsome as anybody’s, but UT hasn’t struggled on the mound in Hoover. Much like Kentucky, the Gators will give Tennessee a game for most of Sunday’s matchup. Like Kentucky, they’ll also succumb to issues with pitching depth. Tennessee’s magic year will continue with a 6-2 win and sweep of the SEC regular-season and tournament titles.