In the deep recesses of an exhausting night, amidst of sea of empty garnet chairs and a handful of die hard fans more than willing to make their feelings known on both sides, Florida baseball finally put South Carolina out of its misery at 1:31 a.m. on one of the longest nights in Founders Park history.

Florida won the series opener 9-5 after the teams started on time at 7:02 p.m., made it through half an inning, endured a three-hour, four-minute rain delay, then proceeded to start a game which on its own was not quick by any means.

Right off the bat, inauspicious vibes wafted over the ballpark. A dreary forecast, gloomy skies and a threat of rain loomed over the ballpark as the teams did start on time. It took five batters for the inevitable to occur.

South Carolina (26-21, 5-17 SEC) starter Brandon Stone threw 11 pitches against four batters in a clean first inning. His counterpart, Florida (31-16, 9-13 SEC) ace Liam Peterson, threw five to one batter when a lightning strike sent the teams to their clubhouses.

“We were getting all conflicting reports on what the weather was going to be,” Paul Mainieri said. “We have an administrative staff here that manages the game. It’s easy to second guess. Nobody knows what the weather is going to do. I’ve had plenty of years where we don’t start the game and sit there for two hours and watch it not rain, not lightning. We got reports that the line of stuff wasn’t going to come through until about 8:00 or 8:30.”

For over three hours, torrential rain fell, regular lightning flickered in the distance and the question of why the game started at all was more than fair.

Finally at 10:15 p.m. the game resumed, but with a stunning twist.

As you would expect, with over three hours between pitches, Peterson was out. Florida turned to reliever Alex Philpott.

Stone, however, was not out.

By the time he took the mound for the top of the second inning, it was a full three-and-a-half hours between pitches, 7:07 p.m. to 10:37 p.m. exactly. It was an unprecedented decision going against all conventional baseball wisdom, to say nothing of the risk it was to Stone with such a lay-off between warming up.

“He really didn’t even throw that many pitches in the bullpen prior to the game,” Mainieri said. “It was more like a reliever coming in after he was ready. We were going to not bring him back, and really the kid pleaded with us. I thought he actually threw well. No tightness; he threw well. They just got to him there in the fourth inning.”

South Carolina’s offense gave Stone a three-run lead with a hot first inning via RBIs from Henry Kaczmar, Jordan Carrion and Beau Hollins. But Stone was only able to make it through four innings with three runs allowed, and the advantage faded quickly. Hayden Yost’s two-run homer cut the lead to one, and South Carolina still led 4-3 when Jackson Soucie took over for the fifth inning.

Luke Heyman tied the game with a solo home run, but much worse followed moments later. After back-to-back walks and a flubbed infield pop-up, Ty Evans came up with the bases loaded. He made the Gamecocks pay for the three free bases in the ultimate way, crushing a grand slam past the batter’s eye.

“We gave up a two-run homer and grand slam,” Mainieri said. “So six runs on two swings.”

Just like that, it was 8-4, the perceived pitching advantage the Gamecocks had by leaving their Friday starter in produced no fruit and the game was over for all intents and purposes.

Jase Woita’s solo home run shaved one run off the deficit and the offense put at least two runners on base in the fifth, seventh and eighth, but the same recurring problem of the season decided the game.

On a night the Gamecocks finished with 13 hits, they had 12 singles.

Three straight singles leading off the seventh loaded the bases with nobody out, only for three consecutive strikeouts against Florida relief ace Jack Clemente to send the chance by the boards. Two more singles in the eighth opened the door for a little rally as well, but back-to-back pop outs slammed it shut.

“We had a lot of hits tonight, but we left a lot of runners on base,” Mainieri said. “At the end of the day we didn’t do what it took to win the game.”

And after 348 pitches, 24 strikeouts, 21 hits, 11 walks and over six-and-a-half hours, the dust finally settled on a very comfortable Florida victory.

And the Gators still have their top two starting pitchers available for the rest of the weekend.

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