As the crowd realized what had happened, and as cheers erupted from Florida’s dugout, Vanderbilt’s Jeren Kendall stood alone in left field, his hands on his knees and his chin buried in his chest.
The ball he had just thrown was lying in UF’s dugout, much too far from its intended target at first base.
As a result, Dalton Guthrie jogged across home plate to score the go-ahead run for Florida in the top of the 10th inning.
The No. 10 Gators rallied from a three-run deficit to defeat the No. 6 Commodores 9-7 in extra innings on Saturday, winning the series and silencing a crowd of 3,626 in Nashville, Tennessee.
After Richie Martin belted a one-hopper to shallow left field with one out in the 10th, Kendall’s errant throw allowed Guthrie to score and Martin to reach third base.
Josh Tobias followed with a sacrifice fly to score Martin and increase UF’s lead to two. But the Gators wouldn’t need the insurance run, as right-hander Taylor Lewis (4-1) forced a double play and a fly-out to end the game in the bottom of the 10th.
“The first thing I told the team was that the game isn’t over until the last out,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said in a release. “. ...We were going to go out swinging and playing our best baseball the last two innings.”
Florida (38-14, 17-10 Southeastern Conference) tallied a .310 batting average and hit .333 with runners in scoring position while limiting Vanderbilt (36-16, 18-9 SEC) to an 11-for-42 hitting day.
Buddy Reed accounted for a third of Florida’s offense, finishing with a team-high three RBIs and three hits, including a three-run homer in the first inning.
Vanderbilt answered in the bottom of the first with a two-run shot to center field, and again in the third inning with a solo home run to right-center.
Another solo homer in the fifth gave Vanderbilt a 4-3 lead, but Florida responded with an RBI single from Martin in the seventh to tie the game.
In the bottom of the seventh, left-hander Bobby Poyner walked Vanderbilt’s Bryan Reynolds with the bases loaded, and allowed two more runs after VU’s Will Toffey doubled down the right field line.
Trailing 7-4 in the eighth, JJ Schwarz tripled to right field, scoring Peter Alonso from first base. Next, Ryan Larson sent Schwarz home with a left field single. The Gators evened the score after Schwarz singled in the top of the ninth, scoring Reed.
From there, a hit from Martin, a poor throw from Vanderbilt’s left fielder and a quick 10th inning from Lewis sealed the upset for Florida. Lewis finished with one strikeout and allowed two hits in his fourth win this season.
“It could’ve gone either way,” O’Sullivan said of the series. “I can’t say enough about our guys today and their resolve and toughness against one of the best teams in the country.”
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb
Dalton Guthrie swings at a pitch during Florida's 8-7 win against Fairfield on March 10 at McKethan Stadium. Guthrie scored the go-ahead run for Florida in its 9-7 win against Vanderbilt on Saturday.
