The latest on the travel curfew
There has been quite a bit of uncertainty surrounding travel curfews and the way their results would be interpreted Will they count in league standings? Will they count toward RPI calculation?
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SEBaseball.com caught up with Charles Bloom, Associate Commissioner of the SEC, and asked for the latest details on this ever-changing issue.
"In the last four of five years since I have been involved with baseball," Bloom said Monday evening, "we have told our member institutions that they can not stay over Sunday, that they had to take the last flight out on Sunday. So we have administered our gametimes with that flight time minus the travel to the airport."
That changed last month prior to the opening of conference play.
"The NCAA sent a memo out on March 11 restating their position that all games must be nine innings (see below)," explained Bloom; "That games stopped due to time constraints are not complete games. They said there would be no exceptions.
"After we received that memo, we communicated it and revisited the game times."
That explains why the Arkansas/Auburn series finale on April 3 had a 10:30 A.M. start time. The game was still very near reaching the travel curfew but made it in just under the gun playing all nine innings.
Sunday in the Big XII, Texas and Nebraska were not so fortunate. Their series finale, televised by ESPN, ended after eight innings due to the Longhorns' flight schedule.
On the heels of that game, the college baseball world was abuzz. Would the game count? Would others like them count?
"Today (Monday) we sent out a memo to the league coaches," Bloom said. "It basically said that we would continue to schedule games trying our best to get nine innings in. If all nine innings are not completed by the travel curfew time, we would count the games in the SEC. We would appeal to the NCAA to have them count. I understand that is also how the Big XII would handle it."
Bloom stated that every measure would be taken to allow games to finish in nine innings. The appeal process would be a last resort.
As for the SEC's travel curfew, "this rule is about more than just playing time rules," Bloom explained, "this is an academic issue to limit the missed classtime."
The rulebook states
Regulation Game
SECTION 8. a. A regulation game shall be nine innings unless:
(1) Extended because of a tied score (see 5-7-d and 5-8-d);
(2) Shortened because (a) the home team needs none or only part of its half of the ninth inning or (b) the umpire calls the game after satisfying either "b" or "c" below or 5-10 (Tie Game), or
(3) Seven-inning games have been scheduled for a double-header by conference rule or mutual agreement.
A.R.-If a seven-inning game has been scheduled, the rules applying to the ninth inning shall be applied to the seventh inning.
b. It shall be a regulation game if called by the umpire at any time after five innings have been completed, and the score shall be that of the last equal inning played, except that in the following circumstances the score of the game shall be the total number of runs that each team has scored:
(1) If the team second at bat has scored more runs at the end of its fourth inning than the team first at bat has scored in five completed innings;
(2) If the team second at bat has scored in an unequal number of innings more runs than the team first at bat, or
(3) If the team second at bat is at bat when the game is called and has scored in the incomplete inning the same number of runs or more runs than the team first at bat. Each team must play an equal number of innings unless shortened because the home team needs none or only part of its half of the final inning.
53 RULE 5-8/THE GAME-ITS BEGINNING AND ENDING
c. It is a regulation game if it is called by the umpire for any cause that puts patrons or players in peril such as for darkness, inclement weather, a facility problem, crowd behavior, etc., provided the conditions in 5-8-b have been met.
A.R.-If a game is delayed due to inclement weather, a facility problem, etc., a reasonable amount of time (not less than 30 minutes) must elapse before the game is called.
d. If the score is tied at the end of nine innings, play shall be continued until one team has scored more runs than the other in an equal number of innings, except that if the last team at bat scores the winning run before the third player is out in any inning after the ninth, the game shall terminate and be a regulation game.
e. It is a regulation game when the umpire terminates play by calling "Game." If, however, there shall be an appeal situation, it is the responsibility of the team to make such an appeal to an umpire before the pitcher and all infielders have left fair territory on their way to the dugout.
f. Speed-up, optional substitution, or any other optional rules may not be used for official NCAA contests or NCAA Championships since they are considered conduct rules. By definition (points of emphasis section), conduct rules are those rules that have to do directly with the playing of the contest. No conduct rule may be changed by mutual consent or agreement.
