Irving, Texas - Big 12 Conference baseball saw game duration drop by an average of 13 minutes due to a visible pitch clock utilized during 2018 league games.

The average length of play in 2017 was 3:17, while in 2018 the length had dropped by 13 minutes to 3:04. If eliminating the five longest and five shortest games in 2018, the length of games was three hours.

Under NCAA experimental rules, the Big 12 utilized a visible pitch clock. Additionally, the Conference was permitted to reduce the time between pitches when no runners were on base from 20 to 15 seconds. The Conference also used the visible clock for pre-game and between-inning timing.

Pitchers who did not begin their delivery in the allotted time were warned for a first violation and a ball was accessed for any additional infraction. The batter was assessed a strike if he was not in the box at the five-second mark. A total of 13 pitcher warnings, with six balls and two strikes were called in the 103 games sampled.

Unless the NCAA baseball rules committee makes an adjustment in the pitch clock, the Big 12 will likely request to continue the experimental rule in 2019 to gather more data.