How many innings are there in high school baseball? Comparing and contracting rules with college baseball and MLB

The baseball season is in full swing at each level, as the MLB season is almost one-third of the way through the season, while conference tournaments are set to begin in college baseball next week. Meanwhile, at the high school level, the postseason is underway.

While the objective of the game remains the same, there are different rules at each level of the sport. Take a look at how many innings there are in high school baseball below.

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How many innings are there in high school baseball?

High school baseball games are just seven innings long. As baseball is played without a clock, there are rules in place to prevent games from keeping student-athletes on the field late into the night.

While rules differ in each league, most leagues have some rule in place to shorten the length of games. According to the CIF Rule Book in California:

"In all non-varsity contests, no new inning will start after two and one half hours have elapsed from the start of a regulation game (five innings or four and one half innings with the host team ahead in the score).

"In any night baseball game, no inning will be permitted to start after 11:30 p.m., with the exception of the CIF Southern Section Championship game." [h/t cbuaump.org]

There's also a mercy rule in high school basebal,l which takes place if a team is ahead by 10 or more runs after five innings. If a team is ahead by 20 or more runs after three innings, the mercy rule also goes into effect.

The rules in high school baseball are different from college baseball and the MLB. At the collegiate level, games last nine innings, but there's a mercy rule that could take place if a team is leading by 10 or more runs after seven innings. In the MLB, games are also played over nine innings, with no mercy rule, regardless of the score.

While the shorter games don't fully prepare student-athletes - particularly those who bypass college and turn pro after high school - for the lengthy games at the next level, other factors must be considered. Most notably, the health of the players, many of whom don't play baseball past high school.