The SEC Tournament will feature a Double First Base

The 2024 SEC Baseball Tournament opened Tuesday morning. The diamond at the Hoover Met looks a little different this year.

The SEC announced they will experiment with a double first base during this week’s postseason tournament. Two first bases? How’s that going to work?

The league is experimenting with softball rules. This week the best college baseball players in America will be using the same base-running rule as your beer league softball team.

Why are they trying out the double first base? In a statement from the SEC, the league said, “The purpose of the double first base is to reduce collisions between the defense and the batter-runner at first base. It has been utilized in a number of SEC non-conference contests this season.”

In short, the defense will use the white bag, while the runners will use the green one, which lies in foul territory. The batter must touch the green portion of the bag or it will be considered that he missed first base. Once the runner safely reaches first base, he will exclusively use the white bag.

This feels like an unnecessary rule change. How many times have you seen a collision at first base? The double first base removes it from the equation, but it does not feel like a major problem that must be addressed in college baseball. However, it’s a small change, one that should not play a significant role at all during this week’s action at the SEC Tournament.

Nick Mingione and the Co-SEC Champs will begin their quest for an SEC Tournament title on Wednesday. Thanks to tiebreakers, Kentucky is the No. 3 seed. Barring any rain delays, the Bat Cats will take on the winner of LSU vs. Georgia at 10:30 am EST tomorrow morning.

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