Tentative start time announced for Gainesville Super Regional following weather delay

Following a second delay in the Gainesville Super Regional, officials have announced a tentative restart time for Florida and South Carolina.

Game 2 will begin at 5:36 p.m. ET, barring any further disruptions by the weather.

Friday night’s opener to the Gainesville Super Regional was also delayed by weather, with the two teams having to wait about an hour and a half to finally get underway. It was well worth the wait.

The two SEC foes squared off and put on an incredibly compelling matchup for the fans. South Carolina stormed out to an early 3-0 lead, only to watch Florida slowly chip away at it and eventually take the lead into the late stages of the game.

Even trailing 5-3 going into the ninth inning South Carolina wasn’t down and out. The Gamecocks hit a solo home run with two outs in the ninth to make it interesting for a brief moment, cutting the Gators’ lead to 5-4 before they were able to ice it for good to take a 1-0 lead in the Gainesville Super Regional.

But the contest between the two SEC divisional rivals also included some controversy, something that could add extra juice to today’s contest.

The play in question occurred in the top of the fifth inning when South Carolina shortstop Braylen Wimmer reached first base on a throwing error from Florida pitcher Brandon Sproat. As Wimmer crossed and started to round toward second after the errant throw, he collided lightly with first baseman Jac Caglianone, stumbling.

The first base umpire appeared to signal something, and Wimmer seemed to take the signal as a call for interference, awarding him second base. So he very nonchalantly rounded the corner and headed to second, only to be tagged out and then ruled out by another umpire.

Officials then convened to review the play. Upon review, they called Wimmer out.

“As you saw by my persistence out there with the umpires I was not satisfied with the explanation,” South Carolina coach Mark Kingston said. “Their job is to make the calls, my job is to defend the team. And we didn’t necessarily agree on the outcome, but umpires are out there for a reason. They had their opinion and we had to go with it.”

Kingston said he fully expects his team to be ready in Game 2 of the Gainesville Super Regional, despite last night’s setback.

And make no mistake about it, South Carolina is fully capable of winning two straight to reach the College World Series. The Gamecocks swept the three-game regular season series against the Gators.