How does overtime work in college baseball? Everything you need to know 

College baseball can be one of the more entertaining ways to take in the game. Free from all the rigidity of the MLB, fans can find an exciting brand of spontaneity in an NCAA game.

After MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred enacted a sweeping new host of rules ahead of the 2023 season, college baseball largely followed suit. It was not long before several of Manfred's rules, or at least several of them, began to pop up in the college world.

The rules, which included bans on defensive shifts, larger base sizes, and of course, the pitch clock, were aimed at shortening games and stimulating offense.

After two months of play, the results have yielded more or less exactly the results that the MLB expected. The average game is down to under three hours, and run production and stolen base numbers are through the roof.

On June 22, the LSU Tigers beat Wake Forrest in the College World Series off of a walk-off home run from Tigers hitter Tommy White. Getting things going for the Tigers early in the 11th innings was Dylan Crews.

Crews is widely expected to be selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates at the draft in July. This got the wider baseball world more interested in NCAA extra innings formats.

"What an unbelievable college baseball game! May have been the best I’ve ever seen. Incredible arms dealing, extra innings with winner going to the finals and a WALK OFF TATER from Tanks. My goodness how beautiful." - Alden Cartwright

However, extra innings may be the one area that college baseball resembles it's MLB grandfather the most. While it may not be New York Yankees' level of fanfare, it can still get very exciting.

Similarly to the MLB, the NCAA enacted a rule wherein a runner will start each extra inning of play with a runner on second base. The rule was added to the MLB in 2021 in an effort to shorten games and bring on earlier walk-off wins to excite fans.

"Me watching college baseball Conference Tournaments from 8am to 2am this week. Give me alllllllll the extra innings and rain delays" - Ben Upton

The longest college game ever was played between Texas and Boston in 2009, and lasted 25 innings before the Longhorns were able to get the go-ahead run across the plate.

College baseball is no different from the MLB these days

While the MLB was certainly on the vanguard of establishing these big new rules changes, the rest of the sport seems to have followed suit. Now, it appears as though the new standard of the game will stay forever.