8230 Beechwood Drive, P.O. Box 5447

Lincoln, Nebraska 68505-0447

The Nebraska School Activities Baseball Manual is prepared for school administrators and coaches. All coaches and athletic directors are urged to study this document. Every eligibility rule is not covered in this Manual. The schools are responsible for knowing these rules about domicile, scholastic eligibility, age, etc., which are covered in the NSAA Yearbook.

Baseball exists as an activity via authority of paragraph 3.11.2.1 in the Nebraska School Activities Association Athletic Bylaws (Page 10, Athletic Bylaws) which states:

Baseball shall be conducted during the spring sports season. The season shall begin with the first day of practice as permitted by NSAA rules and shall end with the state tournament.

The Nebraska School Activities Association maintains a home page on the internet at the following address: http://www.nsaahome.org/

There are several sections within this home page, including a sub-page for each of the NSAA’s sponsored activities. One of the reasons for the internet is to offer another means of communication between the state office, its schools, coaches, and patrons. The NSAA office and its staff members all can be reached via the internet via this e-mail address: nsaa@nsaahome.org

You are encouraged to check the NSAA home page where your activity is involved. Here are some of the topics on this activity:

District Assignments District Pairings/Results

State Tournament Bracket State Tournament Results Wild Card Standings

Past State Champions State Tournament History

The season starts the first day of practice. The first date for a practice is Monday of Week 35 of the Standardized Calendar. The first date for a contest is Thursday of Week 37 of the Standardized Calendar. Districts will be conducted on Saturday of Week 44 and Monday and Tuesday of Week 45. The season ends with the state tournament, which is scheduled to begin the Monday of Week 46.

All contests shall be conducted under the official baseball rules of the National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations, or those approved by that organization with modifications approved by the Nebraska School Activities Association. Each school is provided one Baseball Rules Book.

The National Federation Rules Book contains several references to rules which may be altered "by state association adoption." The NSAA Board of Control, which makes such adoptions for the Association, has approved the suspended game policy and speed-up rules for courtesy runners. These rules are in effect for all games, regular season and district play.

Schools make their own arrangements for hiring umpires for interschool competition. The Nebraska School Activities Association now has registration requirements concerning baseball umpires. The NSAA will send a list of registered umpires to each high school and local assignor to ensure only registered officials are used for varsity interscholastic competition.

The superintendent, principal or an authorized representative of the faculty shall accompany and supervise the team for its competition. This bylaw pertains to all competition during the season, as well as throughout the entire district/state tournament series.

Any student who participates on any baseball team other than a team representing his/her school during the baseball season becomes ineligible to represent the school in baseball during the remainder of that school year. The baseball season starts February 26.

• A student of either sex may participate in baseball.
• Students on high school baseball teams cannot physically participate in baseball clinics from February 26 through the end of the baseball season.
• A team's competition can come only from teams sponsored by another high school.
• There is no NSAA season/per day limit on games for teams or individuals, except that pitchers are under a 12-inning pitching limitation in a three-day period.
• In order to participate in a district or state contest in baseball, a student is required to have been a member of a school’s team for at least 20 school days prior to the first day of the district or state competition.
• A team wishing to enter a district tournament shall have participated in a minimum of five interschool contests prior to the district contest.
• To be eligible to participate in a district or state contest, an individual shall have been a member of the school’s team and shall have been available to participate in at least eighty percent (80%) of the school’s scheduled interschool contests and not have missed more than twenty percent (20%) of the school’s scheduled contests because of participating in non-high school competition. The term "school’s scheduled interschool contests," is defined as those contests which appear on the school’s schedule at the beginning of the season. An exception to the above requirements will be considered if a student was unable to participate because of injury, illness, or has transferred from another high school.

Suspended Game Policy. A game called for any reason, where a winner cannot be determined, or any game called at anytime for mechanical failure (i.e., artificial light, water systems, etc.) may be treated as a suspended game. If the game is to be completed, it will be continued from the point of suspension, with the lineup and batting order of each team the same as the lineup and batting order at the moment of suspension, subject to the rules of the game. Both schools involved in the game must agree to the suspension. Any game tied but not completed will be treated as a no-game, from a team won-lost standpoint.

Protests. Only protests based upon eligibility of players will be honored by the NSAA. Protests based upon play situations and those which involve judgment on the part of umpires will not be accepted. Schools mutually agree in advance on the umpires to be used. After the contest has begun, the decisions of the officials are final.

Note: The rulebook's speed-up rules on handling the ball after a putout with no runners on base were not adopted and are not required.

Pitching Limit. During the entire high school season, an athlete may pitch a maximum of 12 innings in a three-day period. This rule applies to regular season play, district and state tournament competition.

· If athletes pitch two innings on Monday and four innings on Tuesday, they would be eligible to pitch only six innings on Wednesday.

· If they pitched six innings on Wednesday and then did not pitch on Thursday, they would be limited to six innings on Friday. The number of innings pitched the two previous days must be taken into account in figuring the number of innings eligible to be pitched on the third day.

· The time of the day has no bearing on this rule. Two innings pitched on Monday in the morning would have the same effect on the example listed above as two innings pitched in the afternoon, no matter when the game on Wednesday was played.

Classification of Schools. Baseball is one class for competition.

District Assignments. Schools submitting the baseball registration fee to the NSAA were assigned to districts. Assignments were made according to Board of Control policy that if there are no schools involved from Western Nebraska, all schools will be placed in districts according to enrollment. There are five districts. Assignments began with the largest school. District 1 has schools ranked in size #1-6-11-16-21-26; District 2--#2-7-12-17-22-27; District 3--#3-8-13-18-23-28; District 4--#4-9-14-19-24-29; District 5--#5-10-15-20-25.

District tournament directors have the responsibility to plan and run their single-elimination tournament according to NSAA and National Federation baseball rules. The NSAA will contract and assign all umpires.

District Entry Deadline. A baseball district tournament entry form is included in the Entry Form Booklet located on the NSAA website. This entry form is due April 30, and should be mailed as follows: One copy to your district tournament director; one copy to NSAA.

District Tournament Seeding. Seeding for district tournaments will be completed by district directors on April 30, the Monday before the start of the first district contest. Seeding will be based on wild card point averages for all games played through April 28.

District pairings will be made for five-team districts in the following manner: Seed 4 vs. 5, with winner playing 1; 2 vs. 3. In six-team districts, the seeding will be: Seed 4 vs. 5, with winner playing Seed 1; Seed 3 vs. Seed 6, with the winner playing Seed 2.

District Admissions. An admission should be charged and proceeds used by the director to offset expenses of the tournament. The NSAA's share of district receipts is 6 percent for the catastrophic injury insurance fund. District admission prices are $4.00 for adults and $3.00 for students.

Eligible Players. Players listed on the district entry blank will be eligible to play in district or state tournament games. Substitutes on this list can be made, but no more than twenty players may suit up for district or state tournament games. If substitutes are made, inform the tournament director as soon as possible. Anyone substituted must be eligible according to all NSAA rules.

Smokeless Tobacco Ban. During district or state competition, the use of smokeless tobacco by any participant is prohibited. If a participant or substitute is detected using smokeless tobacco during competition, that individual shall be disqualified from further participation in that contest.

Awards. The winner and runner-up of each district tournament will receive plaques. The winner and runner-up in the state tournament will receive trophies. Members of the state championship team will receive gold medals and the championship team coach will receive a plaque. Members of the state runner-up team will receive silver medals. Wild card team qualifiers to the state tournament will receive plaques.

State Qualifiers. Each district tournament champion qualifies for the state tournament. Three other teams will qualify for the state tournament via wild cards.

1. A first division team is a team that has won more than 66% of its games played.
2. A second division team is a team that has won at least 34% but not more than 66% of its games played.
3. A third division team is a team that has won less than 34% of its games played.

Out of state teams will not be counted when calculating point averages.

If there is a tie in wild card standings, selection will be determined in the following manner:

Reporting Scores. Wild card points and standings will be available on the NSAA Home Page. Game results should be reported to all media and the NSAA office. The Omaha World-Herald (800-284-6397) and Lincoln Journal Star (800-742-7315) will be the day-to-day source for scored used to calculate wild card points. Schools may send their results each day they play to: jangele@nsaahome.org.

Addition to Game Rules. At the state tournament, the Association has permission from the National Federation to extend the suspended game rule so all games not terminated by the 10-run rule will play a full seven innings or more if necessary to determine a winner. This means a team could build a 4-3 lead in the State Tournament and be up to bat in the bottom of the fifth inning with the score still at 4-3 when weather forces the game to be stopped. The game will be suspended and resumed when weather permits. Prior to the state tournament, this game would be terminated and the final score set at 4-3 because play went beyond 4-1/2 innings and one team was ahead.

Baseline Coaches. Only players and coaches in uniform may serve as baseline coaches at district and/or state.

Dates. The eight-team double-elimination state tournament will be held May 14-15-16-17, in Bellevue and Omaha.

Seeding. Teams in the state tournament will be seeded according to the wild card point average and the first-round pairings will match the following seeded teams: 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5. If teams are tied via the point average, the wild card rules will be used to break the tie.

Schedule. The Association’s goal is to use Rosenblatt Stadium as much as the city of Omaha will permit.

• Day One - May 14 (Monday) - First round games at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. First round losers’ bracket 7 p.m., Seymour Smith Field, Omaha; and Roddy Field, Bellevue.
• Day Two - May 15 (Tuesday) - Championship quarterfinals at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., second round losers’ bracket 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Seymour Smith Field, Omaha.
• Day Three - May 16 (Wednesday) - Championship semifinals 1 p.m. Third round and final losers’ bracket games 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., Rosenblatt Stadium or Seymour Smith Field, Omaha.
• Day Four - May 17 (Thursday) - Championship final 5 p.m., (20 min. after game 14, if necessary), Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha.

Directors. The Omaha Public Schools and Bellevue Public Schools will direct the state tournament for the Nebraska School Activities Association. Site Directors are: Jerry Bartee, Omaha South; Mike Purdy, Bellevue East.

Postponement Plans. Schools qualifying for the state tournament must be prepared for time changes the NSAA might have to make because of weather conditions or other conflicts:

• If the weather prevents first-round play on May 14, the first-round schedule will be reset for May 15. The rest of the tournament will follow accordingly with championship finals scheduled for May 18.
• If some first-round games are not played on May 14, sessions 1, 2, and 3 will be completed on May 15 at Seymour Smith and Roddy Fields. Session 4 and Game 12 will be played on May 16 at Seymour Smith. Session 5 and Game 13 will be played on May 17 with the championship final on May 18.
• If the semifinals and loser’s bracket games are not played on May 16, they will be rescheduled on May 17, with the final scheduled on May 18.
• The tournament will be extended into the next week if weather prevents the tournament from being finished by May 19. No games will be played on Sunday, May 20.

Adjustments in the tournament schedule may be made for two school functions--baccalaureate and commencement. No other conflicts can be considered as long as the tournament plays on the dates mentioned in this section. Schools with baccalaureates or commencements scheduled on May 14-15-16-17-18 should inform Jim Angele in the NSAA office.

Home team for first-round games will be the highest seeded team. Home team for all other games and finals will be decided by a coin flip, except game 15. The home team in game 15 (if necessary) will be the visiting team of game 14.

Reimbursement. Mileage will be paid on miles one way, minus 50 miles, at 82¢ per mile per car. Mileage is figured on the shortest route via official Nebraska Department of Roads map.

Admission Prices. State tournament admission prices will be $6.00 for adults and $4.00 for high school students and younger for each session

State Tournament Umpires. The NSAA office will hire and assign registered umpires for the state tournament.

Tournament Information. Schools qualifying for the state tournament will receive a letter of instructions.

Photographs. All schools are to mail a team photograph to Chuck Walker at Omaha South by May 1 for possible use in the state tournament program. Include row-by-row identification of all personnel with titles such as coach, assistant coach or manager if the person is not a player.

Statistics. Teams qualifying for the state tournament must send a copy of their roster complete with statistics via e-mail to the NSAA for the state tournament program. Information will be sent to all schools outlining the details of this process.