The sixth-ranked Florida Gators (28-11, 12-6 SEC East) had all the answers for ninth-ranked LSU (32-10, 11-7 SEC West) Friday night but they had no answer for the weather. A severe line of thunderstorms suspended play in the bottom of the fifth inning with the Gators leading, 7-0. The game will resume play Saturday 30 minutes after the Gators play game two of the series, which begins at 2 p.m. at McKethan Stadium.
Florida was cruising behind some hot hitting and a razor sharp pitching performance from Alex Panteliodis when a line of thunderstorms delayed the game with one out and runners on second and third in the Florida half of the fifth inning.
Through five innings, Panteliodis gave up four hits, no walks and struck out two. He weathered a two-on, none out second inning and was in total control the rest of the way.
This was expected to be a pitching duel between Panteliodis and LSU’s tall righthander (6-7) Anthony Ranaudo, who is expected to be a first round choice in the June Major League Baseball Draft. Panteliodis brought his A game. The same couldn’t be said about Ranaudo, who was gone after two innings.
After a 1-2-3 top of the first, the Gators wasted little time getting to Ranaudo. Bryson Smith drilled a one-out single to right and moved to third when Preston Tucker lined a single up the middle. Austin Maddox fouled off four pitches before taking an outside fast ball the other way to right field to drive Smith home with the game’s first run. Florida’s threat was cut short end Brian Johnson lined into an inning-ending double play.
LSU got its only threat going in the second inning with back-to-back singles by Micah Gibbs and Matt Gaudet to start things off. A fielder’s choice put runners on the corners with one out but Panteliodis helped himself with a pickoff at first of Leon Landry before he induced Edward to ground out to second to kill the threat and end the inning.
Mike Zunino got the second going with a one-out double to center field that ticked off the glove of Landry, who nearly came up with a diving catch. Tyler Thompson followed with a line drive up the middle that caromed off the left shin of Ranaudo, putting runners on first and third. Ranaudo stayed in the game but probably wishes he had gone to the bench because Josh Adams lined a three-run homer to left on a 3-1 count to increase Florida’s lead to 4-0.
Ranaudo was pulled after LSU hit in the third. For his two innings, he gave up six hits and four earned runs.
Ranaudo was replaced by Joey Bourgeois, who didn’t fare much better in the Florida half of the third. Maddox lined a one-out single to center field and Johnson followed with a walk. One out later, Zunino delivered a run-scoring single up the middle and Tyler Thompson followed with a triple that sneaked under the glove of LSU first baseman Blake Dean and rolled all the way into the right field corner, scoring Johnson and Zunino to make it 7-0. Bourgeois escaped further damage when the wind held up an Adams blast that sent Mikie Mahtook to the right field wall.
Panteliodis gave up a two-out single in the third, set the Tigers down 1-2-3 in the fourth and got the next three batters in the fifth after giving up a leadoff single to Landry.
In Florida’s half of the fifth, Johnson hit a hard liner to center field to start the inning and moved to second when Bourgeois, second baseman Tyler Hanover and first baseman Blake Dean converged on Matt den Dekker’s bunt but nobody covered first.
With a 2-1 count on Thompson, the game was suspended due to lightning.