INDIANAPOLIS — Home runs are up in NCAA Division I baseball more than 38 percent from 0.39 per game in 2014 to 0.54 per game through the first week of May 2015.
The trends compared the use of the raised seamed baseball that was used by institutions in 2014 to the flat-seamed baseball used in 2015.
“The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee is still encouraged by the statistical trends using the new baseball in 2015,” said chair Dave Heeke, Associate VP/Director of Athletics at Central Michigan University. “The committee will continue to follow and study the results heading into the conference tournaments and into the championship.”
As of May 3, runs scored in a game are up from 5.12 in 2014 to 5.47 in 2015, while the batting average has also seen a small increase from .270 in 2014 to .274 in 2015. Not only are hitters seeing some success this year, but the pitchers are as well. Strikeouts have risen from 6.53 per nine innings in 2014 to 7.09 per nine innings in 2015.
The complete trends report is below.
| 2015 NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL EARLY SEASON TRENDS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| THROUGH 05/04/14 | THROUGH 05/03/15 | FINAL 2014 | |
| TEAMS | +296 | +295 | +296 |
| Avg. Games Per Team | 45.03 | 44.95 | 54.8 |
| BATTING | |||
| Batting Average | .270 | .274 | .270 |
| Runs Per Game | 5.12 | 5.47 | 5.08 |
| Home Runs Per Game | 0.39 | 0.54 | #0.39 |
| Slugging Percentage | .364 | .386 | .364 |
| Stolen Bases Per Game | 1.04 | 1.06 | 1.02 |
| Sacrifice Hits Per Game | 0.75 | 0.67 | 0.76 |
| Sacrifice Flies Per Game | 0.40 | 0.38 | 0.40 |
| Percentage of RBIs from Sac Flies | 8.74 | 7.79 | 8.74 |
| PITCHING | |||
| Earned-Run Average | 4.25 | 4.58 | 4.22 |
| Strikeouts Per Nine Innings | 6.53 | 7.09 | 6.48 |
| Shutouts | 853 | 736 | 1034 |
| Pct of D1 shutouts per D1 games pitched | 6.40 | 5.55 | 6.37 |
| FIELDING | |||
| Fielding Percentage | .966 | .965 | *.966 |
| Averages are per game and per team. * Record high for completed season. # Record low for completed season + stats do not include 6 reclassifying members. | |||
