FOUNDERS PARK: Florida rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to defeat South Carolina 9-5 at Ray Tanner Field in a game that ended at 1:31 AM Saturday morning due to a weather delay of a little more than three hours that started in the bottom of the first inning.
After the delay, the Gamecocks came out and put three runs on the board on RBI singles by Henry Kaczmar and Beau Hollins and an RBI double by Jordan Carrion.
Florida got on the board in the top of the third but the Gamecocks matched that run in the bottom of the inning on a Hollins’ RBI single.
From there, the Gators took control of the game playing long ball. Hayden Yost had a two-run homer in the top of the fourth that cut the USC lead to 4-3.
In the top of the fifth, Luke Heyman cranked out a two-run homer off reliever Jackson Soucie to put the Gators on top for the first time 5-4. After a pair of walks and a dropped fly ball in right by Blake Jackson, Ty Evans came up with the bases loaded and cleared them with his second home run of the season.
Jase Woita got one run back for the Gamecocks in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff home run. USC put two more runners on in the inning but couldn’t score them.
The Gamecocks loaded the bases with with no one out in the bottom of the seventh but were not able to capitalize. The Gators brought in their closer Jake Clemente after a leadoff single. He gave up two more singles to load the bases then used his 95 MPH fastball to strike out Hollins, KJ Scobey and Ryan Bakes in order, all on swings.
The Gators scored an insurance run in the eighth without the benefit of a hit on a leadoff walk, a stolen base, a sacrifice bunt and a sac fly for a 9-5 lead.
The Gamecocks thought they had gotten that run back in the bottom of the inning, but the SEC replay crew in Birmingham thought otherwise. Jackson led off with a walk and stole second as Kaczmar struck out. Nathan Hall then hit a sinking liner into left that the fielder made a dive for, but the ball hit the ground before entering his glove. However, the closest umpire called it a catch, and the Gators doubled Jackson off second as he was racing home to score. The play was reviewed and overturned, but Jackson was sent back to third and was stranded by a pair of infield pop outs.
USC did get a runner to second in the ninth with two outs but he became the 13th Gamecock left on base. The Gamecocks were 1-5 with runners on third and less than two out. Eleven of their 13 hits were singles that produced three of their runs, while Florida had five extra base hits that accounted for seven of their runs.
Florida reliever Caden McDonald earned the win to improve to 4-0. Soucie took the loss and is 3-1. Clemente earned his sixth save.
USC is now 26-21 overall and 5-17 in the SEC while the Gators are 31-16 and 9-13. Game two will be Saturday afternoon with first pitch moved up to 1:00 PM due to expected storms later in the afternoon.