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The Florida Gators blew out Kentucky in a College World Series elimination game on Wednesday, pounding the Wildcats by a score of 15-4. The win not only ended the season of an SEC rival, but it caused a scheduling logjam in Omaha!
The Gators weren’t even supposed to play on Wednesday, having their Tuesday night matchup with Kentucky postponed due to weather. That CWS meeting was rescheduled for 11 AM the following day and was expected to end around 2 pm.
That would’ve put things right on track for a 3 PM Game 2 start between Tennessee and Florida State, followed by a nightcap at 7 PM when the Gators play again versus Texas A&M.
The schedule was already chaotic enough seeing a triple-header, with Florida being forced to play twice. The Gators further mucked things up by absolutely annihilating the Wildcats in that opener.
The UF offense, led by superstar slugger Jac Caglianone who bashed his program record 75th home run on Wednesday, unloaded on its SEC brethren.
A 15-run barrage caused the game to go well beyond that initially allotted time frame, with the final out not being recorded around 2:30 PM – about a half-hour past its intended slot.
NCAA policy calls for at least a 65-minute wait in CWS between games, giving fans the opportunity to both clear out of the stadium and re-enter for the next contest.
That put first pitch for the Tennessee-FSU matchup at 3:45 PM, as opposed to the originally scheduled 3 PM.
Game 2 of the College World Series started nearly an hour late.
And if we’re being technical, it actually saw a two-hour delay!
Had the Gators’ Tuesday night matchup not been postponed for weather, Tennessee-FSU would’ve started at 2 PM on Wednesday. That changed to 3 PM after the adjustment, and then to nearly 4 PM following Florida’s onslaught of the Wildcats.
And the chaos might not be done yet!
Should Tennessee’s game with Florida State run even the slightest bit over its three-hour slot, the nightcap between Florida and Texas A&M might not kick off until close to 9 PM. Midnight baseball, here we come!
For the Gators, that could mean starting the morning at 11 AM, and finishing more than half a day later. If so, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves!