Fabian hits two homers as Gators deny Sooners
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida stayed alive and set up a decisive Game 7 with Oklahoma by defeating the Sooners, 7-2, Sunday night in Game 6 at Condron Ballpark.
The Gators, just 24 hours removed from suffering a 9-4 loss to OU, struck first in the fourth inning with Jud Fabian's solo home run to left field.
Jac Caglianone doubled UF's lead in the fifth with an RBI single, only for the Sooners to plate a pair of runs in the sixth on consecutive RBI singles by Tanner Tredaway and Jimmy Crooks.
Sterlin Thompson came across the plate for the second time in the seventh inning on an single by BT Riopelle, reinstating Florida's lead.
Fabian added his second home run of the night in the eighth inning to give the Gators a 4-2 lead.
The Gators would score four additional runs before the eighth inning was over, two of which were unearned.
A passed ball scored Josh Rivera and sent Wyatt Langford to second, and Thompson's sacrifice fly proceeded to score Colby Halter and advance Langford to third.
With two outs, the Sooners had a chance to get out of the top half of the eighth without incurring further damage on the scoreboard, but a throwing error by Peyton Graham allowed Riopelle to reach first and another run to come across the plate, putting the Sooners in a five-run hole.
Carsten Finnvold, who entered in the first inning, remained in the game for the ninth to record the final three outs and secure the victory for Florida.
If it weren't for Finnvold's performance, Fabian likely would have been Florida's player of the game.
The Ocala native had the 10th multihome run game of his UF career and his fourth this season with solo shots in the fourth and eighth innings, giving him 24 home runs on the year.
With 120 home runs as a team this season, the Gators are 12 homers away from the program record for home runs in a season. Fabian's performance marked a bounce-back in a sense after a 1-of-5 outing in UF's 6-5 win over Central Michigan in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader.
“Maybe Jud didn't have the biggest first game, but all of a sudden he turns around and hits two home runs,” Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. “I know people want to see Jud hit home runs all the time, but it's just the game. And when you're able to put things behind you, like the first game for Jud, I think that says a lot of things about Jud.”