High school baseball games typically consist of seven innings. This is the standard game length set by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and is shorter than the nine innings played in professional and college baseball
. Each inning is divided into two halves: the visiting team bats in the top half, and the home team bats in the bottom half. An inning ends when three outs are recorded against the batting team
. There are some variations and rules affecting game length in high school baseball:
- The mercy rule can end a game early if one team leads by a large margin (e.g., 10 or more runs after five innings)
- Some leagues may shorten games to five or six innings due to scheduling or weather conditions
- If the game is tied after seven innings, extra innings are played until a winner is determined, but there may be time limits on how late innings can start
- The average duration of a high school baseball game is about 2 hours and 20 minutes, with each inning lasting roughly 20 minutes on average
In summary, the standard number of innings in high school baseball is seven innings, designed to balance competitiveness with the physical and academic demands on student-athletes.
