Florida Baseball: Charles Schwab Field taketh, but is also giveth

After Michael Robertson made the game-saving catch for Florida baseball to put the Gators into the championship series, there was a reality that in a ton of ballparks in America, Robertson wouldn’t have had a chance to catch the ball because it would have been a home run in almost any other stadium.

But if you are someone convinced that the Gators are simply lucky to be in the finals because of the stadium, you are willfully ignoring the multiple times that the Gators had would-be home runs also die in the massive outfield that Omaha possesses.

Florida Baseball: Fly out to centerfield

It is well known that hitting a home run at Charles Schwab Field is really difficult. Between the fences that are backed up along with the wind that tends to blow in, one has to really get a hold of one to get it over the fence.

So when TCU made their final out to deep center field, the analytics team at Creighton University tweeted out that it would have been a home run 97% of the time at the MLB level.

The thing is, Florida baseball has also seen multiple balls in Omaha that would be home runs also die on the warning track.

Against Virginia, Wyatt Langford and Jac Caglianone had balls that were well over 100 MPH off the bat that turned into simple flyouts.

Against Oral Roberts, Cade Kurland and Colby Halter had deep flyouts.

And against TCU, Langford again had hit one into the left field gap in the seventh inning that deserved a better fate than it received.

Is it ideal that teams play all season with one set of expectations as to what it takes to hit a home run, only for it to flip once on college baseball’s biggest stage?

Of course not.

But since everyone is playing with the same ballpark, let’s not act like the Florida Gators haven’t had their fair share of deep shots that Charles Schwab Field held.