Stanford is heading back to the College World Series for the third consecutive season after defeating the Texas Longhorns on Monday night in the most dramatic way possible — walking off with two outs in the ninth inning for a 7-6 victory.
And it’s worth wondering if the exact same game, played at the exact same location at any other time of day would’ve produced the same outcome.
Because Stanford didn’t walk off on a memorable home run or a screaming line drive. The Cardinal won on a pop up that the Longhorns’ outfielders simply could not track through the shine of the stadium’s lights against the sky.
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
STANFORD IS HEADED BACK TO OMAHA!!!!!!!!!!!#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/lOPLVhxcPY
— Stanford Baseball (@StanfordBSB) June 13, 2023
This actually not an uncommon phenomenon for Cardinal baseball. The mix of late dusk plus the strong lights at the stadium have caused many teams to struggle tracking pop-ups .There’s even a name for it: Stanford twilight.
And plenty of baseball fans think it’s the reason why the Cardinal, and not the Longhorns, are headed to Omaha.