The awaited matchup between No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 8 Florida was suspended in the middle of the sixth inning Friday with the Commodores ahead.
Vanderbilt held a 4-2 lead when the tarps were brought out due to lightning and rain at 8:43 p.m. After a rain delay of more than an hour, officials called it off and announced the game will resume Saturday at 2 p.m.
After the conclusion of Friday's game, the two teams will take a 40-minute break before hitting the field again for Saturday's regularly scheduled contest.
Florida (37-12, 18-6 Southeastern Conference) starting pitcher Hudson Randall probably welcomed the stoppage of play on Friday, as the sophomore righty's night was one he'd rather soon forget.
Vanderbilt (41-6, 19-5 SEC) put the lead-off hitter aboard in the first and the speedy Tony Kemp promptly stole second. Randall (8-2) then issued just his fifth walk of the season to Aaron Westlake on four straight pitches.With first base open and only one out, it was clear the Gators were trying to set up a potential double-play situation.
Randall got clean-up hitter Jason Esposito to hit the ball on the ground, but it was a sharp one-hop liner to Nolan Fontana at short and the ball deflected off his glove and into center field, scoring Kemp instead of ending the inning.
Vanderbilt scored three more in the third off of an infield single, a bloop single to right, a popped-up bunt that went for a hit, an error on UF third baseman Jeff Moyer and a bobbled ball in left by Daniel Pigott on the one legitimate base hit of the inning.
In all Randall gave up eight hits and four runs, only two of them earned, in five innings of work. The Commodores jumped on the Gators right-hander early in counts and took advantage of clutch hitting, as all three of their runs in the third came with two outs.
Down 4-1, Florida had a chance to tie the game or take the lead in the top of the fifth after some good fortune of its own. Second baseman Josh Adams reached on an error by Esposito and Moyer reached on a soft bouncer through the right side. Pigott advanced the runners with a chopper to third. The bases were loaded after Vandy starter Sonny Gray then hit Nolan Fontana on the foot.
Center fielder Bryson Smith, who didn't have a hit against Arkansas last weekend, struck out swinging after Gray started him out 2-0. Gray continued to struggle, plunking Preston Tucker on the thigh to score Adams from third. But hot-hitting catcher Mike Zunino watched as strike three was called to end the inning.
Other than the fifth, Gray was dealing. The junior right-hander sat the Gators down in order in the first, third and sixth innings, and faced just four batters in the fourth. He gave up two runs (one earned) and two hits with four strikeouts in six innings of work.
Neither Randall nor Gray is expected to return to the mound Saturday afternoon.
Florida may trot out lefty Alex Panteliodis (4-1), who threw only 37 pitches in a 4-2 win over UNF on Tuesday.
