As Kirby Snead stood on the mound, and as two Vanderbilt base runners stood behind him, Florida’s dugout stood on edge.
Snead threw the final pitch, and the ball was hit harmlessly to first base for the game’s final out.
Florida swarmed the field.
For the first time since 2011, the Gators were crowned the Southeastern Conference Tournament Champions.
No. 4-seed Florida defeated No. 2-seed Vanderbilt 7-3 on Sunday. The game featured nearly three hours of weather delays, beginning at 4:30 p.m. and finishing an hour before midnight.
The Gators (44-16) used five pitchers and a .378 batting average to beat the defending NCAA Champion Commodores (42-19) for the third time this season.
The Gators tallied 14 hits, double that of the Commodores, and hit 7-for-19 with runners on base.
Junior Harrison Bader hit the game’s only home run — a left-field shot in the first inning. Peter Alonso followed with a center-field single, scoring Buddy Reed from third. Reed finished with a team-high three hits, two runs and a stolen base.
Vanderbilt scored in the bottom half of the first after a wild pitch from Florida starter Eric Handhold, but UF responded with two runs in the second after a Reed double and a Josh Tobias single.
Jeremy Vasquez increased Florida’s lead to 5-1 with an RBI single in the third inning, but VU cut the lead to two with a pair of RBI singles in the third and fourth innings.
Florida scored the game’s final two runs in the fifth inning after Vasquez hit his second RBI single and Mike Rivera scored on a wild pitch.
Left-hander Danny Young earned the win for Florida, throwing three scoreless innings and striking out three batters. On a day in which it was without any of its usual starters, Florida’s pitching staff combined for 11 strikeouts and just three walks.
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UF's Peter Alonso (right) celebrates with teammate Harrison Bader after Bader's solo home run in the first inning of Florida's 14-3 win against the South Carolina Gamecocks on April 11 at McKethan Stadium.
