Citing widespread confusion about circumstances under which baseball teams may play a game shorter than nine innings, the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee temporarily halted enforcement of a long-standing rule stating that seven-inning games may be scheduled only as part of a doubleheader between two teams.

The committee ruled that seven-inning games played in tournaments on or before April 18 will be counted as regulation games.

The committee made its decision April 14 in response to a request from the Division II Management Council, which discussed the issue during its spring meeting. The discussion was prompted in part by concerns from commissioners of Division II conferences whose members had played numerous games in violation of the rule.

Rules committee members, who considered the request during an April 14 telephone conference, decided relief was needed because teams in all divisions and in all regions of the country played games that would not count in win-loss records or player statistics under the rule.

"The committee firmly believes that baseball is a nine-inning game," said Chris McKnight, committee chair and head baseball coach at Frostburg State University. "However, there is widespread confusion that crossed conference and regional boundaries about how the rules regarding regulation games and doubleheaders are applied to tournaments. This ruling allows those games to count, but makes clear that they won't count in the future."

Entering this season, the committee was aware that some misunderstanding of the rule existed, because of occasional questions received by the national office playing rules administration staff.

"It has come up a couple times a year the past few years," said Ty Halpin, NCAA associate director of playing rules administration, who said those inquiries prompted the committee last summer to add an approved ruling to the 2005 Baseball Rules.

A doubleheader is defined in the rules as two nine-inning games, or a seven- and a nine-inning game, or two seven-inning games, occurring no more than 30 minutes apart. That rule has been in place for at least 25 years, Halpin said. The approved ruling specified that a doubleheader must include the same two teams.

However, a February 24 memorandum from the Division III Championships Committee that mentioned the rule -- and stated that only regulation games could be reported for championships selection purposes -- produced more widespread questioning from baseball-playing schools, as did a March 11 memo to all conferences and institutions sponsoring baseball and to umpire coordinators from the Baseball Rules Committee.

The rules committee's memo noted that Baseball Rule 5-7's definition of a doubleheader does not permit a team that plays one opponent in the morning and another in the afternoon to count the competition as a doubleheader, or apply the provision in the rule to limit the game to seven innings.

It soon became clear from schools' reaction to the memos that limiting games to seven innings during tournaments early in the season is common practice, and that such games were not only unknowingly counted toward team records and individual statistics in previous years, but already had been scheduled and played this season.

"During a tournament, if a team plays one team in the morning and a different team later in the day, that is not considered a doubleheader," McKnight said. "So both games must be nine-inning games. Because this rule had been misunderstood by a large number of institutions for many years, the committee is offering relief for teams who have played in these games."

McKnight said the committee's decision was influenced by the impact that enforcement of the rule would have on student-athletes, who already had played in and recorded statistics in seven-inning games. He also noted that student-athletes often participate in activities to raise funds to travel to such tournaments, which especially attract teams from Divisions II and III institutions to warm-weather locations.

One coach, John Sirianni of Simpson College, a Division III institution, told the Des Moines Register that players on his team raise as much as $18,000 annually for a spring trip.

Tournaments including such teams apparently have scheduled seven-inning games to permit participants to play in as many games as possible during a short period of time.

"The impact on student-athletes who had, in many cases, raised funding for these events was a major factor in the committee's decision," McKnight said. "Also, the committee does not believe -- in most cases -- institutions intentionally violated this rule."

A Division II league, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, reported in a news release April 11 that 55 games played by 10 of the league's 12 baseball-playing members could not be recognized as official contests because they either were scheduled as seven-inning contests or were not part of a doubleheader as defined by baseball rules. The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association reported the same day that all of its baseball-playing members were affected by the rule.

A day later, the Division II Management Council discussed the issue and asked the Baseball Rules Committee to consider providing relief.

In a related matter, the rules committee also extended temporary relief for time-limit games and games that have been shortened under conference travel policies, but indicated such games may not supersede baseball rules and will not be permitted after April 18.

The Baseball Rules Committee said it will fully review rules governing regulation games and doubleheaders at its annual meeting in July.

Some expressed a wish that the committee will consider permitting seven-inning games in the future.

"Playing seven-inning games is beneficial to the quality of play at the Divisions II and III levels, where pitching depth isn't the same as in Division I," said Ralph McFillen, Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association commissioner, in a statement posted on the league's Web site.

"It also helps the schools in weather-disadvantaged areas where getting outside to practice, let alone play games, is hard to do. Many schools come down from the north to play our teams, and the goal is to get them as many games as possible. Playing games -- either seven innings or nine -- can only benefit the game. No injury is being done to the integrity of the sport."

Any move to change the Association-wide rule would require support in all three divisions.