It was a big weekend for the Finley brothers.
Jackson and Leighton Finley, both of whom were standout players for Richmond Hill, picked up wins in the opening weekend of college baseball.
Jackson, a redshirt sophomore at Georgia Tech, made his second career start and went five innings giving up two hits and one run while striking out three to get the win in Tech’s 16-8 victory over Miami of Ohio. The Yellow Jackets swept the three-game series.
It was a heartening outing for Finley who sat out last year due to Tommy John surgery as he ran his collegiate record to 3-1. He was 1-1 in 2020 when the Jackets’ season was cut short due to COVID. The following year he was 2-0 before suffering the arm injury.
Tech coach Danny Hall is expecting big things out of the rangy righthander as he has been named Tech’s Sunday starter which is a key slot in the starting rotation.
Jackson’s win came one day after Leighton, a true freshman at Georgia, went three strong innings in relief against Jacksonville State as the Bulldogs rallied for a 10-5 win.
The game was tied, 3-3, after three innings when Finley came in. Pitching before a Foley Field crowd of 3,797 he allowed one hit in striking out two and not walking a batter. He faced the minimum nine batters as the Bulldogs pulled off a double play behind him.
In his post-game press conference, which is available on the Tech website, Hall was pleased with Jackson’s outing.
“Finley did an outstanding job,” Hall said. “He gave up two hits, didn’t walk anyone and kind of set the tone and gave our offense a chance to get untracked.”
Finley threw 64 pitches before being pulled and he said that’s about what he anticipated.
“Early in the spring I was thinking kind of around that (60-70 pitches),” Finley said. “My fastball seemed to be working, I threw a couple of good changeups and curve balls, too. Everything seemed to be clicking.”
Tech played at Georgia Southern on Tuesday while Georgia will face the Eagles in Statesboro on March 8, a day after they play one another in Augusta.