WVU Baseball Exceeds Game Limit
The West Virginia University baseball team will have a shorter schedule next year after playing too many games this year. Baseball teams are limited to 56 contests, which includes both the spring and any exhibition games played in the fall. WVU failed to take into account a fall exhibition and played the normal 56 games in the spring, for a total of 57.
As Keli Cunningham from WVU states, WVU’s penalty will be to reduce the number of games they play next season on a two-for-one basis, meaning WVU will be limited to 54 games in 2013-14.
There is also no indication that WVU played the exhibition game outside of a declared playing and practice segment. Competition (even exhibition) must occur during a segment which coaches declare. Outside of football and basketball, most teams have two segments: a traditional or championship segment and a nontraditional segment. In baseball, the total of both segments is limited to 132 days. If a team competes outside of the 132 days, a likely penalty would be to reduce the length of the season the following year. Most baseball teams would take that penalty in the fall segment.