Leighton Finley's big moment
WHAT: Athens Super Regional
WHEN: Saturday noon; Sunday noon; Monday (if necessary) TBD
WHERE: Foley Field
RECORDS: Georgia 42-16; North Carolina State 36-20
TV: ESPNU
AT STAKE: A trip to the College World Series
With so many big moments for Georgia in Sunday’s 8-6 win over Georgia Tech to advance to this weekend’s Super Regionals, settling on just one is a difficult task.
However, what sophomore pitcher Leighton Finley did in the 10th inning to lock down the victory for the Bulldogs certainly should receive some votes.
While it wasn’t quite the level of Wills Reed hobbling off the bench in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to spark the New York Knicks, or Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit home run to lift the Dodgers to a Game 1 victory in the 1988 World Series against Oakland, Finley’s effort against the rival Yellow Jackets deserves mention.
"Leighton was not happy with his outing obviously and I looked at him and said, 'Son, we're going to need you at some point for three outs,” head coach Wes Johnson said. “I'm going to need three outs out of you between now and when this thing is over, so I want you not only to get your body ready but get your mind ready to go out there and do it.'”
Finley, who gave up four earned runs and did not make it out of the fourth against Army after throwing 81 pitches, did exactly that.
The Richmond Hill native entered the game after the Yellow Jackets reached against Chandler Marsh.
Cam Jones followed with a single to load the bases, bringing up freshman Drew Burress, one of the nation’s top freshmen and Georgia Tech’s top hitter.
Undaunted, Finley struck out Burress on a 2-2 slider, before retiring Matthew Ellis on a fly ball to right after being ahead in the count of 3-0.
A run would score on the sacrifice fly, but Finley ended the game when he enticed John Giesler to ground out to third ending the inning and the game.
In a bit of irony, Finley’s first save of 2024 came against the team his brother Jackson pitched for as recently as last year.
Even Yellow Jacket coach Danny Hall was impressed.
“Give Leighton Finley some credit. We had his brother at Georgia Tech. It’s a great family and Leighton has been a big factor for them this year. Since he’s almost part of the family I’ll give him some credit for getting those guys out,” Hall smiled.
Finley has been a major contributor since converting from a reliever to making 15 starts for the Bulldogs.
He’s had some big moments, including a six-inning, 11-strikeout performance in a 10-0 over then-No. 13 Vanderbilt. In that game he allowed just three singles and only two runners reached scoring position. He was part of a combined three-hit shutout in Game 1 of the series, which Georgia swept for the first time since 2003.
One of the team’s fierier competitors, Finley did not let Johnson or his teammates down, etching his name into Bulldog baseball lore with one of the bigger individual moments in recent memory.
“When we got to that point, he was telling the guys, 'I'm ready. I've got this. I want this.' That's Leighton. That's who he is. Big moment for him to get back out there,” Johnson said. “To come in, bases loaded, no outs, probably the best freshman in the country at the plate. Got a big strikeout, a fly ball, and then the ground ball … that was amazing.”