Things were looking good to start the evening for the Sooners. Peyton Graham, Blake Robertson and John Spikerman were all on base in the first inning with no one out and the Gators were already tapping into their bullpen.
Then Carsten Finnvold took the mound.
The freshman retired the Sooners in order and shut down the Sooners’ early chance to get a big lead. Oklahoma didn’t get another hit until the sixth inning.
The Gators rode Finnvold’s stellar relief outing to a 7-2 win to push the Gainesville Regional Final to a second game. The winner Monday will move on to Super Regionals to face No. 4 Virginia Tech.
While Cade Horton had a solid night with only two earned runs in 6.1 innings, the OU bullpen couldn’t keep the Gators off the board and allowed a four-run eighth inning.
The Sooners were stagnant in every inning other than the first and sixth. They were retired in order six times on the evening.
Fatigue didn’t seem to be an issue for the Gators, who once again defeated Central Michigan earlier on Sunday to earn this rematch with the Sooners. Finnvold pitching as long as he did against OU after Florida used five pitchers against the Chippewas could be huge for the second game tomorrow.
Oklahoma and Florida will face off Monday at noon.
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