Baseball: Florida 6, Vanderbilt 3

NASHVILLE-- Florida used a late home run to top Vanderbilt 6-3 in extra innings Sunday afternoon and clinch the series at Hawkins Field two games to one.

After the Commodores squandered scoring opportunities in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings, Florida’s Mike Zunino hit his second home run of the day with an opposite field, three-run homer to break the tie. Gators’ right-hander Tommy Toledo then worked a quick 1-2-3 12th inning to seal the victory and pull the Gators and South Carolina even with the Dores atop the Southeastern Conference.

The Commodores had a runner on second with one out in the ninth but did not score. In the 10th VU had runners on second and third with one out but could not score and Curt Casali’s leadoff double to start the bottom of the 12th went to waste as well as Vanderbilt left five runners on base over the three innings.

Casali provided the bulk of the Vandy offense driving in a run in the second inning with his first double and hitting a mammoth home run over the scoreboard in the fourth. Tony Kemp added two hits to the Commodores eight-hit total. Zunino drove in five of the Gators’ six runs on the day finishing 2-for-5 with two home runs. Nolan Fontana added three hits for UF and scored two runs.

Jack Amstrong was pinned with the loss when his runners scored on Zunino’s home run off Vanderbilt reliever Navery Moore. Toledo emerged with the win tossing two scoreless innings. The Gator bullpen turned in 7.2 scoreless innings. Vandy starter Taylor Hill allowed two runs on four hits over 6.1 innings in a no decision.

The Commodores hit the road for the final SEC series of the season Thursday at Georgia. Thursday night’s game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT. Friday’s game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT and Saturday’s at 1 p.m. CT. For ticket information visit vucommodores.com or call 615.322.GOLD.

           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12   R H E
FLORIDA    0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0  0  0  3 - 6 8 1
VANDERBILT 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  0  0  0 - 3 8 1

Boxscore: Download Doc