FAYETTEVILLE — Replays will be available for Arkansas' super regional this weekend, but the system in place would not be able to review the apparent missed call at first base during the ninth inning of the Razorbacks' game against Dallas Baptist on Sunday.
With a runner on second base and no outs in the ninth, DBU's Jameson Hannah hit a drive off the glove of Arkansas pitcher Matt Cronin. The ball ricocheted and hopped to Arkansas shortstop Jax Biggers, who had to rush a throw to first base. The throw bounced off the dirt, but it appeared Arkansas first baseman Jared Gates gloved it before Hannah reached the bag.
First base umpire David Brown called Hannah safe on the play, leading to a chorus of boos from the crowd and an argument from Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn, neither of which did any good as the call was upheld. Hannah, who represented the tying run, was stranded at first base to end the game, a 4-3 Arkansas win.
The timing of the blown call and the importance of the base runner led many to question why replay is not yet a part of college baseball's regional round. Replay has been available to be used for the NCAA's super regional round since 2015 and at the College World Series since 2012, and multiple camera angles are available at the regional sites because ESPN televises or streams every postseason game.
"You know, it's interesting that we have instant replay throughout the season in the SEC and in our (SEC) tournament, and one of the biggest times of the year we don't have it," Van Horn said after Sunday's game.
"The implementation of video replay for all 16 regionals might be the next step for the Division I Baseball Committee to consider," wrote J.D. Hamilton, assistant director of media coordination at the NCAA, in an email to WholeHogSports. "With all regional games now carried by ESPN and its family of networks, the possibility of adding replay might come in the future."
But even the NCAA's replay rules in place would not have been able to overturn Brown's apparent missed call Sunday. In fact, the call could not have been reviewed.
The plays that are eligible for replay at NCAA events include: fair or foul balls, including home runs; deciding whether a ball is a ground-rule double or a home run; spectator interference; catch or no catch in the outfield or in foul ground, or for any catch in the infield that would result in a third out; plays at the plate; determining whether a run scored before a third out at another base; and determining illegal or malicious slides.
Those replays are initiated by the game umpires, but the decision whether to overturn the call on the field is made by representatives of the NCAA Baseball Umpire Program at a remote command center.
Plays at the bases are not reviewable because of concerns over pace of play, said Ben Brownlee of the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel in 2017.
“We felt that if coaches had the opportunity to argue and go to replay for every bang-bang play at first base, the pace of play and duration of play was going to go through the roof," Brownlee said. "At the major league level, they have somebody upstairs that is looking at the replay saying you are going to want to challenge that or you aren’t going to want to challenge that. You are essentially basing that off the first base coach that is going to be arguing that the guy made it more often than not.
“I don’t see us keeping them out of the review forever, but the committee didn’t feel we were there yet.”
Replays at the bases were available under experimental rules that were in place for Southeastern Conference games during the regular season. In addition to the replays permitted by the NCAA, the SEC was able to check force and tag calls at any base, including first; base-running mistakes, such as whether a runner touched a base or passed a preceding runner; hit-by-pitch calls; tag-up plays; placement of runners; and runner interference for the purpose of breaking up a double play.
In addition to umpires, coaches were able to initiate replays with challenges.
According to the SEC, there were 203 reviews for the experimental rules in 2018 and 57 calls (28 percent) were overturned. The average review time was 2 minutes, 3 seconds.
For permanent rule reviews - the ones used at the super regionals and College World Series - nine of 42 calls (21 percent) were reversed in SEC play and the average review time was 2 minutes, 10 seconds.
The SEC received a waiver from the NCAA to use expanded replay in 2018. The NCAA Baseball Rules Committee is expected to take up talk about whether to apply the SEC's experimentation to all of college baseball within the next several months.
At the SEC's spring meetings last week in Destin, Fla., league athletics directors approved the use of centralized replay in baseball, which will allow a replay official at the SEC office in Birmingham, Ala., to communicate with on-site umpires about reviewable calls, similar to the practice already in place at NCAA events. The centralized baseball replay will be used in 2019, but only if the experimental rules used by the SEC this season are made permanent by the NCAA's rules committee.
"The replay, to me, has been great," Van Horn said last month of the SEC's expanded rules. "Usually what we, the coaches, get upset about are the plays at first, when we think the guy is safe. I haven't gone out any in the SEC games to argue anything."