One of the strongest individual performances from Alabama baseball’s weekend series at Ole Miss was from Friday night starter Sam Finnerty. He gave up one run in six innings of work to the Rebels as Alabama lost 1-0 in the series opener.
The only run came on a solo homer in the second inning; Finnerty gave up three hits and one walk the rest of the game. Ole Miss ranks 24th in the nation by averaging 8.2 runs per game and scored 18 combined runs on Saturday and Sunday to finish the series.
Finnerty ranks 12th in the SEC among qualifying players with a 2.03 earned run average for the season and is one of the league’s most consistent pitchers. He’s started all five Friday night games this season and is 4-1 after the loss to the Rebels. He has four quality starts in five chances and has thrown at least six innings in each of his last four starts after throwing five innings in the season opener.
He’s tied for sixth in the conference with 31 total innings pitched and has allowed three walks in five starts, tied for second-best in the SEC. His consistency means the coaching staff can rely on him to work his way through jams and leave him in games rather than burn through its bullpen on Friday night to start a series.
Finnerty has also shown improvement from 2018, his first season as a full-time starter. He had a 3.09 ERA after five starts last season and finished the season with a 4.45 ERA.
