As the calendar turns to April, college baseball is closing in on the mid-way point of conference play. There is still a long way to go before conference tournaments or the NCAA Tournament begins. If there is one thing we learn during each season, it is that some scores can be eye-popping.
Runs can be scored at an alarming rate, or runs can be difficult to score. Some games can tend to get out of hand as the weekend goes along and pitching is tough to come by for a lot of programs, even the top one. When the score gets lopsided one way, there is one question that is frequently asked: Does college baseball have a run rule?
Does college baseball have a run rule?
The overall big picture answer is yes, college baseball does have a run rule. It’s an easy one to understand: as a team that leads by 10 runs or more after seven innings, the team with the lead is awarded the win. Believe it or not, it has come into play this year for Virginia Tech and most recently this past weekend at Wake Forest.
In Game 1 on Friday night, a nine-run first inning paved the way for a Hokies 13-2 win that was stopped because of the run rule. Virginia Tech has been on the other side of the run rule as well. Fans don’t like it, but if you’re a coach, you like it because it can save pitching arms for the weekend or a mid-week game coming up.
Teams can agree to ignore the rule and just keep playing, but in the day and age of arm injuries and injuries overall, it makes sense to take advantage of the available rule. It’s mostly used at the conference level. So the answer to the question is yes, college baseball does have a run rule.