WHAT HAPPENED: No. 2 Florida jumped to a big lead and held on late to beat No. 8 Vanderbilt 8-4 Friday night at McKethan Stadium in the series opener.
 
The Gators had a 7-1 lead before Vanderbilt got three runs in the eighth inning, prompting head coach Kevin O'Sullivan to bring in closer Michael Byrne.
 
Byrne closed out the game to record his 26th career save, a new Florida record.
 
Starter Brady Singer had perhaps his best game of the year with one run allowed on just two hits over seven innings. He also had a season-high 11 strikeouts.
 
After a rain delay of an hour and 45 minutes, both starting pitchers cruised through the first three innings until the Gators got on the board in the fourth.
 
Florida managed to string together a pair of hits for the game's first run. Jonathan India extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a bunt single to lead off the inning.
 
After a single from Wil Dalton, the Gators took a 1-0 lead on JJ Schwarz's sac fly to right field.
 
Florida added a run in the fifth, taking advantage of a couple Vanderbilt miscues. Deacon Liput reached on an error and advanced to third on a double from Nelson Maldonado.
 
Liput sprinted home to make it 2-0 on a wild pitch.
 
Vanderbilt finally got to Singer in the seventh with a solo home run from Philip Clarke to cut the deficit to one.
 
The Gators took control in the bottom of the seventh with five runs on just three hits as they batted around. They took advantage of three walks and a hit batter in the frame. India's towering two-run home run provided the big blow.
 
Vanderbilt fought back in the eighth with a homer, as Stephen Scott hit a three-run shot to cut the deficit to 7-4 before Byrne entered and closed out the game.
 
Florida added its final run in the eighth as Liput scored again on RBI groundout from Maldonado.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Michael Byrne – A year ago, Byrne had not even locked down the closer role with just three saves through the end of March. He proceeded to set the single-season UF record with a NCAA-best 19 saves in 2017 and has picked up where he left off with seven saves already in 2018. His career total of 26 saves surpasses the previous record held by John Pricher (1988-92).

FROM THE COACH: Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan on Michael Byrne: "Vintage Michael, he ended up breaking the record tonight. Twenty-one pitches, 17 strikes – that's just what he does. He comes in and gets two outs in the eighth on just four pitches. He's got no pulse, I don't know how to explain it. We talk about it constantly, all the time after games. Michael was Michael again."
 
On tonight's game: "We got off to a little bit of a rough start offensively, I thought Fellows was throwing the ball good. He had 15 walks in about 30 innings coming in but he was landing his breaking ball early in the count, started a bunch of guys 0-0 with breaking balls and was hitting them.
 
"The fourth inning started with India laying down a drag bunt – that was on his own – that shows you the type of player he is. He had a great night again with three hits, I think we had seven hits with our top four hitters and JJ had the RBI to get us on the board in the fourth.
 
"As far as Brady is concerned, he had a special fastball tonight, the ball was just riding. Usually it's just down in the zone and gets more sink but he had some riding action on it today and got some swings and misses. Any time you strike out 11 against anybody in our league it's a great night."

STANDOUT STAT: 10 / 24 – Jonathan India hit his 10th home run of the season on Friday, tying Wil Dalton for the team lead. With two RBI on the night he surpassed Dalton for the team lead with 24.

UP NEXT: Florida and Vanderbilt will play again on Saturday at noon on ESPNU. The series finale on Sunday is at noon on SEC Network. Both games will air live on the Gator IMG Sports Network.