Florida outlasts South Carolina after 3-hour weather delay

South Carolina waited out a 3-hour, 4-minute weather delay for an opportunity as good as this one. The Gamecocks were already deep into Florida’s bullpen with a chance to do some serious damage.

The situation was nearly perfect. Down by three in the seventh inning, the bases were loaded with no outs after three straight singles. It almost begged for something good to happen.

But what took place in the next three at-bats was a microcosm of the season. In the blink of an eye, South Carolina was heading back out to the field to begin the next inning after Beau Hollins, KJ Scobey, and Ryan Bakes all struck out to waste a golden opportunity.

“We swung at some bad pitches,” head coach Paul Mainieri said. “I don’t think any of the three pitches to Beau were strikes. He swung at three bad balls in a row. And then Scobey, you know, just couldn’t make contact. And then Bakes couldn’t make contact.”

In a game where the Gamecocks got off to a fast start after the delay ended, they let their early lead slip away and never jumped back in front in a 9-5 loss to the Gators on Friday.

Though the game would start on time, it wouldn’t be long before things came to a halt. Before leadoff hitter Blake Jackson could finish his at-bat in the first inning, lightning approached the surrounding area and paused all action until 10:15 p.m.

“We were getting all conflicting reports on what the weather was going to be,” Mainieri said. “We have an administrative staff here that manages the game, and it’s easy to second-guess guess weather. Nobody knows what the weather is going to do.”

This seemingly worked in South Carolina’s (26-21, 5-17 SEC) favor since Florida starting pitcher Liam Peterson didn’t return to pitch after only throwing seven pitches. The offense immediately plated three runs on four hits and an error after the game resumed.

Brandon Stone, who pitched a scoreless first inning, had to wait 210 minutes, or three-and-a-half hours, before taking the mound again. The right-hander had only thrown 11 pitches but went through his entire routine to get ready to come back out and pitch. Rarely do starting pitchers come back out after such a long layoff during a delay, but whoever’s decision it was, Stone was back out there.

“We were going to not bring him back, and really, the kid pleaded with us. He said, ‘I feel fine,’ and I thought he actually threw well,” Mainieri said. “… You make decisions based on what you feel is the best thing. And the kid was pleading to pitch. So obviously he felt good and didn’t think he was at risk. We weren’t going to let him throw 150 pitches out there. He gave us three more innings and did a very courageous job.”

When Stone retook the mound, he worked his way through a scoreless second inning but dealt with some hiccups after that. He was one out away from getting out of a jam in the third before Luke Heyman ripped a line drive RBI double that was right at KJ Scobey. Normally a reliable defender over at the hot corner, Scobey could only watch as the scorched ball went by his glove.

Then in the fourth, Stone was once more an out away from putting up a scoreless frame. This time, he was ahead in a 0-2 count against Hayden Yost, who had just missed a two-run homer that hooked foul down the right field line. He wouldn’t miss the next pitch, though, as he blasted a two-run shot off Stone.

Stone only lasted four innings and threw 56 of his 67 pitches after the delay. Even after he gave up his first run of the night, South Carolina got it right back as Beau Hollins delivered an RBI single with two outs in the third. However, things quickly collapsed when the game turned over to the bullpen starting in the fifth.

After starting his outing with a strikeout, Jackson Soucie served up a long solo homer to Heyman to tie the game. He then walked the next two batters and didn’t get any help from his defense when a shallow fly ball dropped in Blake Jackson’s grasp in right field.

Florida wasted no time making the Gamecocks pay for their timely error in the following at-bat, as Ty Evans hit a 426-foot grand slam that gave the Gators the lead for good.

While not scoring with the bases loaded and no outs was a big miss, South Carolina had another chance to inch closer in the following inning. Just like before, though, more runners were left out to dry after runners were on the corners with one out, and it couldn’t get a run in.

In that situation, though, a likely run was taken away from the Gamecocks. Nathan Hall hit a line drive into left field that was ruled a catch at first and led to an inning-ending double play. However, after review, the call was overturned and ruled a base hit. Blake Jackson, who would’ve scored on the play, was sent back to third base and Hall stood at first for a single.

Even though the run wouldn’t have made a difference, Mainieri still disagreed with the call.

“For me, it was pretty obvious that the kid was going to score. That left fielder landed on his stomach out there, and your runner is 30 feet from home plate,” he said. “I don’t understand how anybody in their right mind could say that he wouldn’t have scored on that ball. He was clearly going to score.”

Up next: South Carolina will look to even the series up with the Gators on Saturday afternoon. First pitch has been changed to a new start time of 1 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Jake McCoy (4-3, 6.38 ERA) will get the start on the mound.

Discuss South Carolina baseball on The Insiders Forum!