By Blake Dowson
After playing host to the Big Ten Baseball Tournament three weeks ago, TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha will again be filled with college baseball fans this weekend as the College World Series overtakes the town.
Arizona, Cal-Santa Barbara, Miami, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Texas Christian, Coastal Carolina, and Florida will make up the field.
The College World Series is an experience unparalleled by other NCAA events. The culmination of a long spring season ends with the road to Omaha, with thousands upon thousands of screaming fans packing the stands for each contest.
Many of the fans in attendance don’t have a rooting interest in the games on the field. They show up for the atmosphere in the stadium, the buzz that somehow seamlessly transferred from historic Rosenblatt Stadium to the new ballpark, now in its sixth year of hosting the tournament.
They show up for the tailgating, the beer, and the carnival-esque vibe that encircles the surrounding blocks around the stadium.
For the coaches and players that provide the on-field content, hearing the word Omaha typically steals away words from their mouths, replaced with nothing but a big grin.
“I pride myself on knowing the right thing to say, but I’m speechless right now,” Arizona first-year head coach Jay Johnson said in a release after his Wildcats clinched a spot in the World Series. “This is the best moment of my life.”
Santa Barbara will travel to its first-ever appearance in Omaha, making for an elated, almost dazed Gaucho head coach.
“I don’t have a lot of words,” Andrew Checketts said in a release after his team beat No. 2 national seed Louisville in super regional play. “I’m still in a little bit of shock.”
Players from Miami, Florida, Texas Tech, and Texas Christian will return for another go in Omaha; all of them have been in the College World Series in the past two seasons.
That being said, the freshmen on each of those rosters will experience the unique atmosphere for the first time.
The Miami Hurricanes regularly play in front of crowds of 5,000 during home games, but that will be nothing compared with the 24,000-plus that pack the bleachers in the Midwest baseball oasis.
“For the rookies, you tell them what it’s like, but when you walk through those doors on the field and go out [to the field] at night, it’s an unbelievable feeling,” longtime Miami coach Jim Morris said in a release. “I’m excited about that for them and for our team.”
The atmosphere is enough to pack the bleachers, but the level of play on the field is outstanding as well. There are 52 players taking the field in Omaha who were selected in this year’s MLB draft, including 24 players taken in the first 10 rounds.
Florida — the No. 1 seed heading into the World Series — had five players drafted in the first two rounds, including Cedar Rapids native A.J. Puk, who went sixth overall to Oakland.
Florida catcher JJ Schwarz, who will likely be a first-round pick in next year’s draft, hit a grand slam in a deciding Game 3 of the Gators’ super regional against rival Florida State.
“I was so excited I don’t even remember touching the bases,” Schwarz said in a release. “Omaha is so much fun. From our experience last year, we just really wanted to go back.”
It’s those kind of magical moments that have almost become common this time of year.
That magic was apparent in the Louisville super regional, when Santa Barbara walked off in the bottom of the ninth inning to punch its ticket to Omaha.
Sam Cohen, the Gauchos’ third-string catcher turned pinch hitter, stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the final inning, his team down 3-0. He proceeded to send a fastball over the right field fence, sending his team into a frenzy.
The crazy thing is, all of the big hits and dominating performances in the supers are just an appetizer for what will undoubtedly happen in Omaha.
It will be fun, and it will be unpredictable. It will be baseball at its best.
