The UF baseball team defeated Central Michigan and Oklahoma on Sunday to keep its season alive and set up a rematch with the Sooners on Monday afternoon in the Gainesville Regional championship game.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Freshman left-hander Carsten Finnvold<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_roster.aspx-3Frp-5Fid-3D15124&d=DwIF-g&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=nbAgRot7YuPIQLG2AjRH7p8JjNtGc0E3VoKQe6Qd1iuCrqcYX5gjBxudN5WBkfYX&s=iuIXpHjiiHqdVkbFfQ7KPBGo3iMA2LKKqErieJNuIr0&e= > didn’t start Sunday’s must-win game against Oklahoma in the Gainesville Regional.
But he certainly finished it.
Finnvold replaced struggling starter Timmy Manning<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_roster.aspx-3Frp-5Fid-3D15098&d=DwIF-g&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=nbAgRot7YuPIQLG2AjRH7p8JjNtGc0E3VoKQe6Qd1iuCrqcYX5gjBxudN5WBkfYX&s=20faogwMXzkEOW7o49hWXp_DhY3exx5y4-R7-nmt81k&e= > with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the first inning. He worked out of the jam by retiring three consecutive Sooners, and then pitched the Gators to a 7-2 win and berth in Monday afternoon’s winner-take-all regional championship game (1 p.m.) at Condron Ballpark.
“Any adjective I use won’t do him justice,” Gators head coach Kevin O’Sullivan<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_coaches.aspx-3Frc-3D1445&d=DwIF-g&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=nbAgRot7YuPIQLG2AjRH7p8JjNtGc0E3VoKQe6Qd1iuCrqcYX5gjBxudN5WBkfYX&s=dfcYrgFqX32LNfeI4CImzqlYKZS_RKFFJGAAhIO96HM&e= > said. “Rushing him down to the pen in the first inning, I was just hoping he could limit the damage.”
A seldom-used and nearly forgotten pitcher during the regular season, Finnvold pitched the game of his life on Sunday night with the Gators’ season on the line. He retired the first 16 batters he faced and went the distance, surrendering five hits and two runs over nine innings.
Finnvold’s 116-pitch relief outing lifted the Gators at a time they were left with few options following a 6-5 win over Central Michigan on Sunday afternoon.
Outfielder Jud Fabian<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_roster.aspx-3Frp-5Fid-3D15127&d=DwIF-g&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=nbAgRot7YuPIQLG2AjRH7p8JjNtGc0E3VoKQe6Qd1iuCrqcYX5gjBxudN5WBkfYX&s=cYb8Ods9HtJo0gdvwSTDkYJV2q-tphFgCo1R-frboXQ&e= > hit a pair of home runs, including a solo homer in the fourth inning for the first run against Sooners starter Cade Holton. The Gators added another run in the fifth, and after Oklahoma scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth, Florida regained the lead on BT Riopelle’s<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_roster.aspx-3Frp-5Fid-3D15114&d=DwIF-g&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=nbAgRot7YuPIQLG2AjRH7p8JjNtGc0E3VoKQe6Qd1iuCrqcYX5gjBxudN5WBkfYX&s=jela9a6D-qxCBZTMJ8EdmugsSWsOvoSYoZfajmHOFTo&e= > RBI single in the seventh.
Fabian homered again to lead off the eighth, sparking a four-run outburst that iced the game for Finnvold in his sensational outing.
The Gators have won 19 of their last 25 games and need one more to clinch a Super Regional berth.
NOTABLES
* Finnvold pitched nine innings of relief, allowing just two earned runs on five hits while walking zero batters. He struck out four.
* Finnvold entered with the bases loaded and no outs in the first inning and proceeded to retire the first 16 batters he faced.
* Finnvold is the first Gator pitcher to pitch nine innings since Jack Leftwich<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_roster.aspx-3Frp-5Fid-3D14221&d=DwIF-g&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=nbAgRot7YuPIQLG2AjRH7p8JjNtGc0E3VoKQe6Qd1iuCrqcYX5gjBxudN5WBkfYX&s=pKYXX5pWXFeqzJsJThGD0MD2HN4OJovDyyOtt8OltIY&e= > accomplished the feat on May 17, 2019 at Missouri.
* J. Fabian hit a solo homer in the fourth to open the scoring, extending his career high in homers to 23 long balls.
* Florida’s 120 home runs this season rank second all-time in program history.
* Record: 132 (1998)
* Fabian later hit his 24th homer in the eighth, moving him into sole possession of third on Florida’s single-season home run list.
* That marked Fabian’s 10th-career multi-homer game and his fourth this season.
* Thompson (3-for-4) collected three hits in tonight’s game and has now recorded multiple hits in all four games of the Gainesville Regional.
* Thompson is 10-for-14 in the Gainesville Regional.
* Florida is now 1-1 all-time against Oklahoma
* Florida is 119-81 in NCAA Tournament games.
* The Gators are playing in their 14th consecutive Regional under O’Sullivan.
* 2022 represents Florida’s 37th NCAA appearance and 18th time hosting.
* Florida has won 17 of its last 22 games and 19 of its last 25.
FROM HEAD COACH KEVIN O’SULLIVAN
On Carsten Finnvold’s<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_roster.aspx-3Frp-5Fid-3D15124&d=DwIF-g&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=nbAgRot7YuPIQLG2AjRH7p8JjNtGc0E3VoKQe6Qd1iuCrqcYX5gjBxudN5WBkfYX&s=iuIXpHjiiHqdVkbFfQ7KPBGo3iMA2LKKqErieJNuIr0&e= > performance…
“I haven’t really had a chance to digest it all. Any adjective I use to describe his outing is not going to do it justice. He had to come in in the first, bases loaded, nobody out. Had to rush him down to the pen and he gets out of it. I was just hoping to limit the damage, and the next thing you know, he goes nine. He gives up two runs. I really don’t know what to say at this point than other than, I’m really happy for him. The season has not gone the way he probably wanted, but he gave us a great effort against Tennessee. He’s an extremely hard worker. He’s tough… I think he deserves every accolade from this performance.”
On what changed for Finnvold…
“I wish I could give you a good story, but there’s really not a story that I can give you other than, probably the most difficult thing in my job is to put together that 27-man travel roster. I hate it. You got to post it, and somebody has to stay home. It’s gut-wrenching at times because you’re leaving home good kids that deserve to be with their teammates. And like I said, this is one of those stories and situations that we’ll be talking about for years to come… he’s earned every part of it.”
On Carsten being called upon in the postseason…
“I brought this up the other day, too. Jonathan Crawford was left off the roster when we went to a World Series. The following year, he’s throwing a no hitter in the regional. He’s the number one pitcher on the USA team. And two years later, he ended up being a first round pick and he wasn’t traveling. These stories do happen to people that work hard. Jonathan earned his opportunity to be a first-round pick and stayed the course. The same can be said to Carsten.”
UP NEXT
Florida takes on Oklahoma again on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. with a trip to Super Regionals on the line.
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