Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
Florida’s Michael Robertson snatched a long fly ball at the wall in a highlight-reel catch on Wednesday afternoon — and clinched a Men’s College World Series spot in the process for the Gators.
In the bottom of the ninth inning of their semifinal matchup with TCU, the Gators led 3-2 two outs, on the cusp of advancing.
Horned Frogs batter Braden Taylor mashed a 95 mph fastball to deep left center, garnering cheers from the crowd, but Robertson, a redshirt freshman who had scored the go-ahead run for Florida, sprinted toward the back wall, jumped up and caught the ball while his momentum threw him into the wall.
Robertson excitedly pumped his fists
“At that point, it’s do-or-die,” Robertson said of his catch. “I’m going to run through the wall if I have to. I knew I was getting close to the wall, had to get up. So luckily, got in the glove and I was able to squeeze it.”
The snag not only sealed the win, it also made Florida the fourth team in history to win its bracket with three straight one-run wins.
This one, however, will go down as a special win for Robertson.
“I mean it’s an unbelievable feeling,” the right fielder said. “Any time you get to do something like that for your team, it fills my heart up. Seriously. I’m excited to move on and I think everybody’s really pumped. We’re excited to get going.”
Thanks, in part, to his catch — Gators shortstop Josh Rivera hit a two-run homer — Florida can now rest easy awaiting the winner of the Wake Forest-LSU semifinal.
That breathing room will be nice for a team that’s eked out several one-run wins to this point.
“It’s not easy to get to this point. It’s just not,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I know I overstate it and say it over and over, but we just played three one-run games and they’re all nail-biters down to the end.”
