Have you ever started to see a baseball game on TV and wondered after 3 hours that the game was still running? Sometimes casual college baseball fans can be confused about the innings two teams play. But, do you know exactly how many innings college baseball teams play in a match?
There are nine regulations inning for a college baseball game set by NCAA. But when it is a double header or time constraints, the games become seven-inning games. You will also see that except for little and youth leagues, all adult leagues have the nine-inning rule.
However, Things are to be explained in different situations for the college baseball games. Let’s makes clarify the facts about the college baseball innings throughout the rest of the post.
What Are College Baseball Games
The college baseball game is a nonprofessional baseball game in America that is played on the intercollegiate level. The college baseball games are played under the rules and regulations of the NCAA- National Collegiate Athletic Association.
The goal of the college baseball game is to develop the non-professional players to reach them in Minor league baseball. Minor league is a great supplier of professional players to the Major league baseball games.
By the way, if you opt to roll into a four-year college, you must complete three years to gain eligibility for the professional baseball games. But, if you turned into 21, you can get professional eligibility by the regulation college baseball game.
How Many Innings Are in a College Baseball Game?
The college baseball game is held with nine innings under the control of NCAA t. But, the innings may vary depending on the situation.
But, if the day is set for a doubleheader, the authority will reduce the game into a seven-inning game. Do you know What is doubleheader in baseball?
When two same teams plays in the same day consecutively, doubleheader occurs. Doubleheaders are typically scheduled to make up for postponed or canceled games due to scheduling conflicts, weather conditions, or other reasons.
By the way, the NCAA tournament games are encouraging schools and conference series to play as many as nine innings games. The shortening of the games by College World Series and conference series is allowed by the NCAA.
College baseball is played with BBCOR bats, though wood bats could be used as well. The best BBCOR bat will give you the best performance. If you are looking for the best BBCOR bats, you may check out our list of the “20 Best BBCOR Bats That Are Ready To Dominate The Plate In 2022.”
What Is the NCAA Mercy Rule In College?
The mercy rule means shortening the game by innings mutually between the two teams. It happens when one team heads another team with by a larger scale of runs which is assumably unconquerable.
But, why is it called the mercy rule? The reason behind the scene is it spares the losing team from more humiliation as the victory is affirmed by the leading team.
Mercy rule depends on the situation of the games. Also, there are different rules for the different-inning games. Mercy rules are implied for a nine-inning game and a seven-inning game as follows.
Nine Innings Game Length Rule
The mercy rule is simple for most college baseball games. If a team scores 10 more runs after seven innings from the opposing team, the game will not continue into the ninth inning.
This is fixed for the visiting team. But, if the home team does so by the six and half-inning, the game can be called. This will also be the final inning of the game.
Seven Innings Game Length Rule
The mercy rule is used if the game is seven innings long rather than nine and either side leads by 10 runs after the fifth inning. The basic rules of baseball are the same as the nine-inning games. By the way, NCAA tournament games are not included in this rule.
However, there are other dependencies for the mercy rule too. Some conferences can choose to apply the rules after seven innings only on Sunday-games, or on the final game of the series.
Through this, the visiting team can have an early start on traveling. You can know more about this rule by reading What Is The Baseball Mercy Rule? All Explained
How Is A Inning Completed?
One inning is completed with six outs. Each team bats till three outs of their batters. This three-out phenomenon for each team is called a half-inning. Aside from this, two half-innings have different names too: top and bottom.
However, there will be a minimum of 51 outs in the game.
Holla! after reading the above line, you might be confused with your math calculation. why not! the 9×6 would be straight 54. But, here I have said 51.
By the way, let me clarify the thing. In the baseball game, the visiting team is the one who bats first. The game will be called if they are unable to seize the lead after their ninth inning or tie the score.
In this instance, the host team is not required to enter the field. So, without the last three outs, the game will end at 51 outs. In this case, the number of innings will be 8 and a half.
As BBCOR bats are used in college baseball, USSSA bats are also used in little leagues. There are some significant differences between the BBCOR bats and USSSA bats that resist the USSSA bats to be used in college baseball. What are the differences that USSSA bats are not allowed in college baseball? The guide “BBCOR Vs USSSA Bats” will help you to clarify them.
The Top and Bottom Playing Team in an Inning
The term “top” refers to the opening half of an inning. In general, the visiting team gets the opportunity to play the first inning bat. They get the opportunity in every half-inning of the full nine-inning games.
The second half is referred to as the bottom, much as the first half. In contrast, the home team plays the game’s bottom inning. With three outs of them, every half-inning gets completed.
The Double Header: How Many Innings Are There?
The doubleheader means when two games are scheduled on the same day. And they are played back to back. In this case, the nine-inning games are reduced to seven-inning games.
The length of the game is reduced because two-game need more time than one game, and easily consume 5 to 6 hours.
So, you know, with a longer version of the game, you cannot expect the spectators will be there on the field. Even the players get exhausted as well.
To reduce some pressure, the game is set to seven-inning games. The following picture of the table may help you to understand the standard regulation game with nine innings, and when it is reduced to set a double header.
What Is The Length Of A College Baseball Game In Terms of Time Consumption?
A baseball game is basically scheduled for 3 hours. As per the entire time intent, an inning takes 20 minutes to complete. each team gets 10 minutes for batting.
This is just a set. But, a team can bring tons of runs without facing any out. As a result, expectedly the timespan will be longer.
On the other hand, if the defense team’s pitchers are really good, they may also shorten the game to less than 10 minutes.
The Extra Innings Facts
The name alone conveys the message. Please allow me to explain. The additional innings that are expected to play after the nine innings in a baseball game are referred to as the extra innings.
It takes place when a game is deadlocked after a complete nine innings. By the way, the extra innings are not scheduled. It depends on the tie game.
The significant fact about the extra-inning is, that there is no time limit for this. The game will be on till the home team take the lead in the game. Or the visiting team leads the score as well.
Read more about How Many Extra Innings In Baseball?
The Longest College Baseball Game
How many innings a college baseball game could reach? There is no limit actually. A game could be longer than our imagination.
The longest game in the College World Series has a record of 25 innings long. This happened between The Texas Longhorns baseball team (University of Texas) and The Boston College Eagles baseball team. The game was taken place on May 30, 2009. In that game,
The Texas Longhorns won the game by 3-2. Aside from this, the game took 7 hours and another 3 minutes.
College Baseball World Series
College baseball is played in tournaments. The final round of DIVISION I is called the College World Series. There is three level of competition that is called championship tournament. But the brand name “College World Series” is reserved for the final round.
Omaha, Nebraska hosts the College World Series in June (The 2022 season is already started on the 17th of June).
There are 64 teams in the playoff round. There are 16 regional locations, and each site has four teams that compete against one another. 16 of the 64 teams have qualified for the eight-site super-regional matches.
In three series, the 16 teams compete against one another. The College World Series semifinal round will now include the eight winners.
The eight teams compete in a double-elimination competition, by the way. There are two groups of four teams apiece for the games.
Two finalists compete for the title of National Champion of DIVISION I by playing the best of three series when the double-elimination competition is over.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does college baseball use metal bats?
Though college baseball players can use wooden bats in collegiate baseball, they use metal baseball bats including aluminum bats, composite bats, and hybrid bats.
By the way, there are reasons behind it. Though metal bats in collegiate play must pass BBCOR certification, which brings the metal bats’ performance near to the wooden bat, the metal bats produce more power.
So, the balls go further, and there are chances for batters to increase their batting average.
Does NCAA sanction any ban on aggressive base running?
Yes, this could happen on the field. If a baserunner resists a fielder who tries to tag or force the runner out during the base running, the umpire can eject the base runner.
On the other hand, a defender could get a double play if he gets impeded by a baserunner attempting a double play.
Does NCAA allow a designated hitter for the college baseball games?
In the USA, all professional teams and baseball leagues allow a designated hitter for each team. Like them, the NCAA also allows a designated hitter as well.
Rather, the designated hitter gets more opportunities in NCAA collegiate baseball. They can serve as both a designated hitter as well as a pitcher.
even if the team replaces the player with one of his roles, he can carry another role as well.
Final Words
Now you know how many innings are in a college baseball. Even though there are 9 innings in the game, there are also options for 7 innings. Additionally, the rationale for shortening the innings is discussed.
As baseball is a game of rules, a bunch of rules, you must experience the reduced number of innings on regular basis for several matches.
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Hello everyone. My name is Jason Butler, and I live in California, America. I was a professional AAA Minor League Baseball player. I lost my chance of playing MLB for injury issues, but I did not lose my love for baseball. I attended the coaching training program and am now working as a coach in a small school in San Diego.
I always love to share my experience and knowledge if that can help you. Play baseball, and stay fit.