Vanderbilt shortstop Anthony Gomez stole home in the top of ninth, but he took more than just another run from Florida.
Gomez, who scored on a successful triple steal with the bases loaded, swung the momentum to the Commodores in a five-run frame. Vandy (33-25) totaled six stolen bases in its last at-bat.
The Commodores' gambles on the base paths shot them past the Gators (42-18) 8-6 and into Sunday's Southeastern Conference Tournament finale. Vanderbilt will face Mississippi State.
Florida stumbled out of the gate after a rough outing for starter Karsten Whitson. Whitson gave up three runs in five hits in just 2.1 innings. Greg Larson came on in relief of Whitson and proved more effective.
Larson surrendered just one hit and fanned three batters in four scoreless frames. Steven "Paco" Rodriguez subbed in for Larson in the seventh and logged 1.2 innings.
Leading 4-3 going into the top of the ninth, Austin Maddox took the mound with the goal of getting the Gators to the SEC Tournament final Sunday. However, Maddox was uncharacteristically shaky.
Florida's closer gave up a leadoff double to Vandy pinch hitter Connor Castellano. A sacrifice bunt from the next batter, pinch hitter Andrew Harris, put Castellano on third with one out for the Commodores.
Maddox hit Tony Kemp with a pitch, and then yielded a bunt single to Mike Yastrzemski, which plated Castellano as the tying run and officially resulted in a blown save.
With one out, Vanderbilt attempted a double steal. Kemp was safe at third, Yastrzemski was gunned down at second by Mike Zunino for the first out. A single by Gomez scored Kemp, putting the Commodores up 5-4 on the Gators.
Gomez stole second base with Conrad Gregor at the plate, so Maddox walked Gregor to set up a double play.
With Spencer Navin at the plate, Gomez and Gregor executed a double steal, putting two runners in scoring position with one out. Maddox intentionally walked Navin.
The next batter was Will Cooper, but he wasn't responsible for Vandy's next run. The Commodores pulled off a triple steal, highlighted by Gomez snagging home, which put the score at 6-4.
Vanderbilt pushed two more runs across the plate in the frame, adding enough insurance to stave off a two-run rally by Florida in the bottom of the ninth.
