Does college baseball have a mercy rule? Exploring the NCAA rulebookÂ
The college baseball season is now in one of its most interesting parts of the year. Every day, there is a blockbuster game, and social media is filled with highlight-reel plays from across the country.
However, what do the extant college baseball rules say about the mercy rule? Here is a closer look at the rule in more detail.
Does college baseball have a mercy rule?
Yes, there is a mercy rule in college baseball, but the rule only covers some parts of the postseason.
Ahead of the 2023 college football season, the SEC added a 10-run "mercy rule" while the ACC and other conferences added it during the 2024 season. However, no such rule will be in place for the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament and the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
Hence, we still have a game like Game 1 of the Tallahassee Super Regional between Florida State and UConn, where the matchup continued despite Florida State amassing a 9-1 lead in the fifth. Marco Dinges and Jaime Ferrer cooked UConn with back-to-back home runs in the first inning, while Max Williams continued the drubbing in the second.
Florida State ended up winning the game by a 24-4 scoreline. If there was a mercy rule, the game would have been over long ago.
Past NCAA baseball champions
Here's a list of the past 10 NCAA baseball champions:
- 2023: LSU
- 2022: Ole Miss
- 2021: Mississippi State
- 2019: Vanderbilt
- 2018: Oregon State
- 2017: Florida
- 2016: Coastal Carolina
- 2015: Virginia
- 2014: Vanderbilt
- 2013: UCLA
When does the Men's College World Series begin?
The 2024 Men's College World Series will start on June 14, 2024. The CWS finals will be a best-of-three series played from June 22-24, 2024.
Collegiate baseball fans will hope for an enthralling College World Series championship game like the one between the LSU Tigers and Florida Gators last year. The matchup was for the ages as two of college baseball's best teams played a classic for fans to relish. The Tigers won in the end, but the Gators went home with the consolation of putting up a decent fight in the final game.
What do you think of the mercy rule in college baseball? Do you think it should be implemented in the latter stages of the NCAA Tournament and College World Series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.