PALMER: Solving Charles Schwab essential to a title

By Hunt Palmer

OMAHA, Neb — Part of baseball charm is the ballpark.

Each one different in its own way. Some seat more than others. The dimensions vary. Prevailing winds dictate game styles.

In its short 13-year history, Charles Schwab Field (previously TD Ameritrade Park) has undergone a metamorphosis of sorts.

Rosenblatt Stadium sat up on a bluff, often exposed to a howling outward wind. Balls flew out of that yard like a beer-league softball game. Charles Schwab Field is burrowed into the bank of the Missouri River, and sometimes the long ball is just not an option.

“Some days here, the ball just doesn’t go,” said Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn. “Wind’s out of the west, midwest, north, it’s going to travel pretty good. South, southeast, like (Thursday) I think it’s southeast pretty much straight in…you’ve got to do some other things. Whether it’s just advancing runners and having a productive at bat. If you don’t do that here, unless you can just slug all the time and hit it over someone’s head, which is somedays a lot tougher than others, it’s just hard to get through this tournament.”

Van Horn has coached five Razorback teams in the new ballpark. This season’s trip is his sixth. LSU skipper Jay Johnson is bringing his fourth team to the venue.

It’s no surprise that two of the great coaches in the sport gave nearly identical answers when asked about offense in Omaha.

“When you talk about offense, something that I’ve always tried to take pride in is we have the ability to function however we need to whether that’s slugging home runs the ability to move the offense,” Johnson said. “Hit with runners in scoring position, situational hit, bunting game, I think this team is very good at all of that. I think it does give us a chance and a blueprint to be successful in a place that is much different than we played throughout the year.”

College basketball coaches often talk about difficult shooting sight lines in massive domed stadium at the Final Four. That site changes annually and presents a new setting every year. College baseball’s ultimate prize is always decided in one ballpark.

So the question must be asked of two coaches with eyes on that prize every year, do you build a team with the vision of Charles Schwab Field in mind? Once again, Van Horn and Johnson were in lock step.

“You’ve got to win in our league first,” Van Horn started. “But, you got to have some guys that can do some things. You’ve got to be able to cover ground in the outfield here, obviously. You’ve got to be able to play defense. You make mistakes here, it’ll cost you.”

While reflecting on Omaha’s differences, Johnson stressed the importance of SEC success first.

“It’s much different than the places that we play in the SEC. It’s much different. But you can’t get here unless you have success in the SEC, so I think it would be very short-sighted to just say, ‘hey, we’re going to build our team around this ballpark.”

The park’s early years were controversial. The BBCOR bats that zapped the home run from the college game in the early 2010s were an awful marriage with the new ballpark that made hitting tougher to begin with.

In 2013, only three home runs were hit in the entire College World Series. UCLA won the whole thing without hitting a single long ball.

The bats have changed, and the balls are now different. The ballpark plays far, far more fairly.

The 2022 CWS featured 28 homers. Then, 35 were hit in LSU’s title season of 2023. Last year, 37 balls left the ballpark.

Jared Jones, who ranks third all-time in home runs at LSU, watched mostly from the dugout as a freshman in 2023 while his teammates bashed baseballs. He also watched a pair of very low scoring games that LSU split, a 3-2 loss to Wake Forest and a 5-0 win over Tennessee. On those nights, the wind whipped in.

Just four days later, LSU and Florida combined for 50 runs over the last two days of the tournament, each scoring lopsided wins that combined for 12 home runs.

Jones admitted he does consider the weather when approaching a game.

“The strike zone is going to be the same for me no matter the weather conditions,” Jones said. “We have to do a good job of controlling the zone. Based off of how the wind is blowing, obviously hard, low line drive are going to do the best for me. Keep me in a good, tight swing, Home runs will be home runs. Line drives will be line drives.”

Tiger ace Kade Anderson was asked if his game plan changes based on wind. He was a little more direct.

“No, it does not.”

LSU and Arkansas have shown the ability all season to win games different ways. Both have designs on winning five or six games in Omaha.

We’ll see which way the wind blows.