High school baseball season to start week earlier in 2027

Basketball coaches propose shot clock for consideration at future Exec Committee meeting

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

High school baseball season will start a week earlier in the spring of 2027 after the IHSAA Executive Committee approved a proposal from the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association at its Feb. 20 meeting.

The vote was 13-6 in favor of the proposal.

The vote also means that the first date a team can officially play a game will also move up by one week.

High school baseball practice for the 2026 season begins statewide Monday. Practice for the 2027 season will begin March 8.

In addition, the Executive Committee also approved a proposal establishing that no more than five players can play in both a varsity and JV game if the varsity game ends before the JV game begins.

Also, if a school is playing both a varsity and JV – the IHSAA uses the term “sub-varsity” – game on the same day, the JV roster can have no more than 11 players, and no player can play more than 12 innings over the two games.

Players who play in a varsity and JV game on the same day will count as one game towards a player’s maximum number of games played.

The vote for this proposal was 19-0, and the Committee voted 19-0 to have the same JV/varsity parameters for softball.

The Executive Committee also voted down a proposal that would have doubled the number of baseball sectionals with no sectional having more than four teams by a 19-0 vote. It also voted down a proposal that would have made baseball sectionals have no more than four teams with the sectionals being seeded.

That vote was also 19-0.

The Executive Committee also voted to table a motion that would have required the use of a double bag at first base by a 19-0 vote.

In other news from the Executive Committee meeting…

• The Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association proposed increasing the number of high school athletes on a club team up to four and also proposed seeding the top two teams in each sectional and regional. Both proposals will be considered and voted upon at a future Executive Committee meeting.

• The Indiana Basketball Coaches Association presented a proposal to implement a 35-second shot clock for girls and boys basketball beginning in the 2027-28 school year. The proposal will be considered and voted upon at a future Executive Committee meeting. Indiana is one of 18 states that does not have a shot clock for basketball. The NFHS gives each state association discretion whether to implement a shot clock or not, but those that do must have a shot clock that is 35 seconds in length.