Vanderbilt sends Florida down with 2-1 loss

By Adam Silverstein
May 24, 2012

The Vanderbilt Commodores topped No. 2 Florida Gators baseball 2-1 on Thursday at Regions Park in Hoover, AL, sending Florida to an elimination game on Friday as the Gators hope to advance on in the 2012 Southeastern Conference Tournament.

Florida (41-17), which had a seven-game winning streak against Vanderbilt (32-25) dating back to last season snapped on Thursday, will face No. 4 South Carolina on Friday. The winner will move on to face the Commodores on Saturday, while the loser will go home and prepare for the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

After three scoreless innings , junior right-handed pitcher Hudson Randall struggled in the bottom of the fourth, giving up consecutive walks on eight-straight balls and allowing Vanderbilt designated hitter Riley Reynolds to hit a two-run triple to the gap in center that cleared the bases and gave the Commodores an early 2-0 lead.

UF started the contest 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base over the first six innings. The Gators finally got on the board in the top of the seventh when junior shortstop Nolan Fontana (1/3, R, BB) singled, advanced to third on an error from a pick-off attempt and was brought home two batters later on a sacrifice fly by senior right fielder Preston Tucker (0/3, RBI, BB).

That was the only offense Randall (5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, K, 2 BB) got from his Florida teammates as he fell to 7-2 on the season in 13 starts.

The Gators registered just four hits on the evening, were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 of 11 base runners over the course of the evening.

2 Comments

  1. SC Gator says:

    As has been typical, our inability to hit ourselves out of a wet paper bag doomed us.

  2. Ken (CA) says:

    painful to watch, so many left in scoring positions, so many strikeouts as they swung at balls way up in the zone and couldn’t lay off

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