How many mound visits are allowed in college baseball? Taking a closer look at NCAA rules and regulations

There are times when a college baseball game is halted in the middle of an inning. That's when a coach or other persons in uniform approach the mound to have a conference with the pitcher to talk strategy or calm the player's nerves in a pressure-packed ball game.

These situations are called mound visits. Mound visits normally occur on the defensive end where the coach approaches the field to map out a strategy to end an inning or to calm a stressed pitcher who has issues during the inning.

A college baseball team on defense is allowed to make six mound visits per regulation game, as per NCAA Rule 6, Section 5(f). In offense, each team is given three offensive conferences during a game.

A trip to the mound starts when the coach crosses the foul line and ends when the coach leaves the dirt circle or the pitcher begins his mandatory eight warmup pitches.

If the game reaches an extra inning, teams are given a free trip per inning. A free trip occurs when the coach approaches the pitcher and the defensive team to hold a conference to map out a plan to end an inning or delay the momentum of the offensive team. A team can use an unused free trip during regulation in the extra inning

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Can a coach warm up another defensive player during a mound visit?

To speed up the game, a coach can use his free trip or time out allowed for a pitcher substitution to call up another defensive player to warm up during innings. The player warming up must remain in fair territory during the charged conference or timeout.

To ensure that each trip to the mound is properly recorded and to avoid mound visit miscues, the plate umpire will write each free trip and the inning in which it took place on the lineup card.

The plate umpire can issue a warning if the coach attempts a second trip to the mound with the same batter in the same inning. If the coach persists and still makes that trip to the mound, he's ejected from the game.

There was an incident last year when Florida went over the allowed mound visits limit when their coach, Kevin O'Sullivan, crossed the foul line. It forced the Gators to change pitchers, calling up left-handed freshamn Cade Fisher, who was inserted into the game despite having limited time to warm up instead of closer Brandon Neely.

O'Sullivan owned up to the mistake and apologized to the team after the game.

"We keep it in the dugout. And I had a brief conversation with the umpire before the inning. It was totally my mistake. And no one feels more terrible than I do," he said.

The Gators went on to beat Oral Roberts 5-4 in the double elimination round of the College World Series.