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USA Today
8 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Does college baseball have a pitch clock? Action clock length, rules explained
Does college baseball have a pitch clock? Action clock length, rules explained Show Caption Hide Caption Which NCAA baseball teams could blow up the bracket The Montgomery Advertiser's Adam Cole and The Southwest Times Record's Jackson Fuller break down who could wreck the tournament bracket. Sometimes the professionals can learn from the amateurs. That has been the case with the pitch clock in the sport of baseball. While college baseball has had one implemented since 2011, the MLB added a pitch clock ahead of the 2023 season has helped speed up the game. REQUIRED READING: College World Series bracket: Schedule, matchups for 2025 NCAA baseball championship Just as it was in the 2024 College World Series, pitch clock rules are in place for the 2025 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. For the second straight season, Division I games must have at least one "action clock" visible on the field. Here's what you need to know about college baseball's pitch clock ahead of the CWS, including how long it is and the differences from the MLB. Is there a pitch clock in college baseball? Pitch clock: 20 seconds Yes, college baseball does have a pitch clock. A pitch clock has been in place for all divisions of college baseball since the 2011 season. Pitchers have 20 seconds to deliver a pitch with no runners on base. With runners on base, a pitcher is required to start the motion of pitching or make a pickoff to avoid the clock violation. Pitchers are allowed one step-off or fake throw to a base per batter to reset the clock. A defensive player or the batter can request a timeout as well, and the clock is reset if it is granted by the umpire. Unlimited step-offs and pick-off attempts are no longer allowed. If a pitcher violates the pitch clock, a ball is added to the count. Which means if it happens on a 3-ball count, the batter is awarded a walk. On the flipside, if a batter violates the clock ― which includes the batter not being in the batter's box and informs the pitcher with no fewer than five seconds on the clock ― a strike will be added to the count. Likewise, if it's a 2-strike count, the batter strikes out. The NCAA approved requirements for all Division I games to have at least one "action clock" visible on the field by Jan. 1, 2024. The requirement is for a visible clock for Division II and II by Jan. 1, 2025. Per the NCAA, the timer shall stop under the following circumstances: The pitcher begins the windup motion or, from a set position, begins the motion to deliver the pitch. The pitcher makes a pickoff attempt (throw) to any base. With runners on base, the pitcher steps off the pitcher's plate to get a new sign or to feint a pickoff attempt. This action counts as a 'reset' and is allowed one time per at-bat. The catcher leaves the catcher's box to give defensive signals or to confer with the pitcher from a distance (in which case the timer shall stop, reset, and start again after the catcher returns to the catcher's box). This action counts as a 'reset' and is allowed one time per at-bat. The umpire calls 'time' for any legitimate reason. How does the college baseball pitch clock differ from MLB? The MLB actually followed college baseball's lead of adding a pitch clock to the sport to speed up the game. However, there are differences between the pitch clock in college and in the pros. In the MLB In there is a 30-second timer in between hitters and pitchers have 15 seconds to deliver a pitch with no runners on and 18 seconds with runners on base (the rule was 20 seconds in 2023). Other major differences include:
USA Today
8 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Rocco's Jello Shot Challenge leaderboard: Latest updates for CWS tradition
Rocco's Jello Shot Challenge leaderboard: Latest updates for CWS tradition Show Caption Hide Caption 4 MLB prospects to watch during the 2025 Men's College World Series 4 MLB prospects The Montgomery Advertiser's Adam Cole and The Southwest Times Record's Jackson Fuller are watching during the 2025 Men's College World Series The final push for a national championship is on, as the final eight teams standing in the NCAA baseball tournament have traveled to Omaha to compete in the College World Series. That means it's also time for one of the College World Series' most popular traditions: the Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge. What began as a "casual" event for fans to partake in has blown up and turned into a must-do College World Series bucket list item for fans who travel to the Mecca of college baseball to experience the feels and emotions of the sport's most sacred grounds up front. REQUIRED READING: Who's in College World Series? Updated bracket, schedule for NCAA baseball tournament Located just outside the gates at Charles Schwab Field, fans line up — perhaps for hours — to go into Rocco's Pizza and Cantina on the corner of 13th and Mike Fahey St. to participate in the challenge. And just as the eight teams clash against each other for a national title, the fanbases of each team go head-to-head against each other to see who will be crowned that year's Rocco's Jell-O Shot champion for that year. Action at the CWS begins on June 13 with double-elimination bracket pool play and is set to run through either June 22 or June 23, depending on how long the CWS finals series goes. Here are the latest updates on the Rocco's Jello Shot Challenge Leaderboard as the CWS takes place in Omaha: Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge leaderboard: Which CWS team leads today? This section will be updated throughout the College World Series Here's a look at which CWS team leads the Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge leaderboard: I: — I: — I: — I: — I: — I: — I: — I: — Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge CWS updates This section will be updated throughout the College World Series What is the Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge at CWS? Started in 2019 by Rocco's Pizza and Cantina, a local restaurant near Charles Schwab Field, the Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge is one of the more popular CWS traditions. The challenge is just as its name suggests: For every Jell-O Shot purchased by a fan from one of the eight schools at the CWS, it adds a tally mark to the leaderboard. For every Jello-O Shot bought, $1 of the $5 shot is given back to a local food bank in each of the eight CWS teams' hometowns and several Omaha-based food banks. Last year's Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge raised $145,477 for food bank donations. What is the Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge record? The current record for the Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge at the CWS belongs to LSU at 68,888 Jell-O Shots, which was set at the 2023 CWS. Tennessee won the 2024 Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge with 38,340 shots bought. Noted by Rocco's official X account (formerly Twitter), the 2024 CWS created some history, as the fanbases of the eight CWS teams bought the most Jell-O Shots in the history of the Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge at 96,412 shots. Here's a look at the top five finishes in the Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge at the CWS:
USA Today
8 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
What is Rocco's Jello Shot Challenge? Explaining College World Series tradition
What is Rocco's Jello Shot Challenge? Explaining College World Series tradition Show Caption Hide Caption Which NCAA baseball teams could blow up the bracket The Montgomery Advertiser's Adam Cole and The Southwest Times Record's Jackson Fuller break down who could wreck the tournament bracket. Inside the walls of Charles Schwab Field Omaha over the next 10 days, eight college baseball teams will be competing for immortality in their sport during the College World Series, with one squad emerging by the end of it as a national champion. Across North 13th Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, a very different kind of competition will be unfolding. Over the past several years, the Jell-O Shot Challenge at Rocco's Pizza and Cantina has become a fixture of the CWS, with supporters of the eight teams vying for the title of the thirstiest fan base at the event. If glory for their teams can't be found on the diamond, fans can try to find it in small plastic cups. REQUIRED READING: 2025 College World Series team rankings: The eight teams in Omaha from best to worst Over the course of the CWS, a tally is kept on a whiteboard, with the restaurant keeping track of which school's fan base has consumed the most shots. The intrigue in the proceedings goes well beyond Omaha: The ever-changing count is regularly updated on social media, with millions of interested fans across the country able to see who's leading in the race for alcohol-soaked greatness. With the first game of the CWS starting today, here's a closer look at the Jell-O Shot Challenge and how it came to be: What is Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge? Years before its sudden rise to fame, Rocco's had been a popular gathering spot for college baseball fans in town for the College World Series to relish their team's wins, drown their sorrows after losses and channel the intensity from the sport's biggest event to various drinking games and competitions with opposing fans. In 2011, when Florida and South Carolina squared off in the CWS championship series, Gators and Gamecocks fans flocking to Rocco's had requested their own distinct shots. Fans knocked them back in droves, giving Pat McEvoy, the restaurant's manager, the idea of doing so for all teams at the event — and eventually gamifying it as an outlet for fans' competitive impulses. Years later, the liquid shots gave way to Jell-O shots, which are easier to make in bulk. As demand for them picked up year after year, Rocco's outsourced the mass-production of the shots to a Tennessee-based company that specializes in making the concoctions. The challenge itself officially began in 2019, making the 2025 College World Series the sixth iteration of it (the COVID-19 pandemic canceled much of the 2020 season, including the CWS). The competition itself is simple. Rocco's stocks Jell-O shots for each of the eight CWS teams, corresponding with one of the school's colors. Each time a fan of that team purchases a shot, it is tallied as part of the school's larger total. The shot counts for each school are periodically updated on a white board at the bar at Rocco's, giving patrons an idea of where things stand and how much work their team needs to catch up. The tally only accounts for shots purchased, not shots consumed. While it had already become a tradition in Omaha, the challenge truly took off in 2022, when McEvoy set up a social media account in which he would post pictures of the leaderboard. After picking up seven followers on its first day, the account had 17,000 by the end of the tournament. Today, it has nearly 51,000 followers. The sheer number of shots have increased rapidly, too. In the first year of the challenge, Arkansas won with 864 shots. Last year, only five years later, Tennessee won with 38,799. It has been a source of intrigue in recent years, with the final leaderboard at Rocco's perhaps the only thing that attracts greater interest in Omaha during the CWS than the games themselves. As it has on the field at the CWS, the SEC has dominated the event, with one of its schools winning each year the challenge has been held. Teams with large fan bases that travel well and that are known for their drinking prowess have generally done well, with LSU, Tennessee and Arkansas among the previous winners (those teams having deep tournament runs, which kept their fans around Omaha longer, didn't hurt, either). Smaller private schools such as Stanford or public schools with stuffier reputations, such as Virginia, have predictably struggled at times. The push to win the challenge helps support a good cause, too. One dollar from each of the $5 shots gets donated to the local food bank of the particular school while another 50 cents goes to the Heartland Food Bank in Omaha. College World Series Jell-O Shot Challenge record The record for most Jell-O shots consumed at Rocco's during the CWS belongs to a familiar face — one with a mark that's highly unlikely to be topped. On its way to winning the Jell-O Shot Challenge in 2023, LSU fans bought 68,888 shots, which is 30,000 more than the next-closest finisher ever in the event. How the Tigers got there is its own story. As the Jell-O Shot Challenge has become more popular, fans have turned to unconventional and perhaps questionable means to ensure their team can be near the top of the leaderboard. When LSU notched its record-setting mark, it received a sizable boost from Raising Cane's founder and CEO Todd Graves, a Baton Rouge resident who bought 6,000 shots — a bill that came out to $30,000. Even without that, Tigers fans still made their presence felt, with more than 60,000 shots excluding Graves' mass purchase. "You know what, man? I started from nothing," Graves said to ESPN. "I had to commercial fish in Alaska to start my first restaurant. ... You work hard and become successful and then you're able to buy all these LSU fans a shot, it feels pretty cool. It's a good way to celebrate with others." Here are the highest shot totals since the challenge started in 2019: LSU, 2023 : 68,888 : 68,888 Tennessee, 2024 : 38,799 : 38,799 Texas A&M, 2024 : 32,762 : 32,762 Ole Miss, 2022 : 18,777 : 18,777 Arkansas, 2022 : 8,672 : 8,672 Wake Forest, 2023 : 7,622 : 7,622 TCU, 2023: 7,070 College World Series Jell-O Shot Challenge winners Here are the previous winners of Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge, along with their final shot tallies:
USA Today
8 hours ago
- Climate
- USA Today
College World Series lightning delays: What to know on weather delay protocols at CWS
College World Series lightning delays: What to know on weather delay protocols at CWS Show Caption Hide Caption Which NCAA baseball teams could blow up the bracket The Montgomery Advertiser's Adam Cole and The Southwest Times Record's Jackson Fuller break down who could wreck the tournament bracket. Over the next two weeks, the eyes of the entire college baseball world will be glued on Omaha as the final eight teams of the NCAA baseball tournament compete in the College World Series and play for a national championship. In that time, an unwelcome opponent at Charles Schwab Field Omaha is bound to make an appearance (or two) as weather continues to transition from spring to summer: Mother Nature. On top of the traditional and basic rain delays, one of the more common weather delays that can impact CWS games is the dreaded lightning delay. REQURIED READING: Who's in College World Series? Updated bracket, schedule for NCAA baseball tournament Last year's CWS experienced several weather and lightning delays, with the most notable one taking place ahead of the Texas A&M vs. Florida opening round game in Bracket 2 play. An originally scheduled 6 p.m. CT game between the Aggies and Gators didn't start until 10:16 p.m. CT due to an over four-hour lightning delay. Action in Omaha for the 2025 CWS gets underway on June 13 with the first of two opening "winner's bracket" doubleheaders. Here's what you need to know: College World Series, NCAA baseball lightning delay, explained The NCAA notes that if a lightning strike needs to be seen and heard within at least six miles of an outdoor stadium, then that game must be halted for a lightning delay. Though a lightning delay's length of time starts at 30 minutes, the total time of a lightning delay can vary — causing perhaps a long night. The reason for the length of time a lightning delay varies is due to lightning strikes that can follow. Here's more from the NCAA's weather/lightning delay policy: "To resume athletics activities, lightning safety experts recommend waiting 30 minutes after both the last sound of thunder and after the last flash of lightning is at least six miles away, and moving away from the venue. If lightning is seen without hearing thunder, lightning may be out of range and therefore less likely to be a significant threat. At night, be aware that lightning can be visible at a much greater distance than during the day as clouds are being lit from the inside by lightning. This greater distance may mean that the lightning is no longer a significant threat. At night, use both the sound of thunder and seeing the lightning channel itself to decide on when to reset the 30-minute return-to-play clock before resuming outdoor athletics activities." College World Series lightning delay strike proximity: How close does a lightning strike need to be? Closest proximity: Six miles Six miles Farthest distance: Eight miles The NCAA notes that for a lightning delay to be called, a lightning strike needs to be seen and heard within at least six miles of the ballpark and as far as eight miles. Additionally, on top of following weather satellite radars, the NCAA recommends using the Flash to Bang method to know how close the lightning is: "If you observe lightning, count the number of seconds until you hear thunder. Divide the number of seconds by five to obtain the distance in miles. Example: If you see lightning and it takes 10 seconds before you hear the thunder, then the lightning is 2 miles away." How long are lightning delays at College World Series? CWS lightning delay length: 30 minutes The NCAA notes that once lightning is detected within the area of Charles Schwab Field and the game enters a lightning delay, the game is delayed or suspended for 30 minutes. However, if lightning strikes comes to be detected within that 30-minute window, the 30-minute clock is reset. In other words, for every lightning strike that follows the initial lightning strike, the 30-minute clock is reset. College World Series weather delay policy Given the knowledge that Mother Nature can impact one, or multiple, CWS games over the next two weeks, the NCAA and the CWS have a "weather delay policy" on their website. Here's what to know from the NCAA website:
USA Today
16 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Freak injury ends Jacob Misiorowski's MLB debut after 5 no-hit innings for Brewers
Freak injury ends Jacob Misiorowski's MLB debut after 5 no-hit innings for Brewers Show Caption Hide Caption 4 MLB prospects to watch during the 2025 Men's College World Series 4 MLB prospects The Montgomery Advertiser's Adam Cole and The Southwest Times Record's Jackson Fuller are watching during the 2025 Men's College World Series Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski had about as eventful an MLB debut as you're going to see. The Brewers' top pitching prospect, a second-round pick in 2022, fired five innings of no-hit ball Thursday night against the St. Louis Cardinals before exiting in the sixth inning following a freak ankle injury. After throwing ball 3 to Victor Scott II, Misiorowski's right ankle bent awkwardly as he moved to return to the mound. The 6-foot-7, 197-pound pitcher exited with a trainer to a standing ovation. Misiorowski, 23, struck out five and walked four while allowing no hits on 81 pitches (49 strikes). The fireballer had 14 pitches meet or exceed 100 mph, per MLB — including the first three he threw. Nick Mears came on in relief and Scott eventually walked. Mears got out of the frame, but the combined no-hitter bid ended in the seventh inning with Aaron Ashby allowing three hits.
