PHOENIX – With an NCAA regional championship within its grasp, the Arizona State baseball team watched as a single call led to a bat flip, an ejection and significant online debate.
On May 31, Big 12 Player of the Year and Golden Spikes finalist Landon Hairston was ejected from ASU’s game against Nebraska, sparking a bigger conversation about the future of officiating in college baseball:
Should the Automated Ball-Strike system be part of the sport’s future?
A controversial third strike call led Hairston to throw his bat approximately 15 feet in the air, leading to his ejection from the contest and a one-game suspension that made him unavailable for ASU’s win-or-go-home game against Ole Miss later that day in the NCAA Tournament’s Lincoln Regional.
“This is a regional championship game where the winner goes to the championship. Everyone’s emotions are high,” ASU coach Willie Bloomquist said postgame. “Now we are sitting here talking about an umpire making a call versus one of the best players in the country that now doesn’t get to play in a regional championship game.”
Not only did the strike cause online commotion, but the penalty was also criticized.
The 2025 and 2026 NCAA baseball rule book states, “Game personnel shall not use language or actions that will, in any manner, refer to or reflect negatively upon opposing players, coaches, umpires or spectators.”
It goes on to clarify that “bat flips near or toward an opponent or umpire” fall under unsportsmanlike conduct.
“I would have really liked to have seen a warning in that situation,” Bloomquist said. “This was an intense game with a lot of emotions running high. ‘Have some feel’ I guess is what I would say, and I’m going to defend my player no matter what.”
The penalty is based on the severity of the offense, which is left to the discretion of the umpire. If the offense is minor, the umpire may issue a warning. If it is persistent after the warning or deemed major, the offender will be ejected from the contest.
In a scenario where the stakes are so high, how could situations like this be avoided?
ABS is now widely accepted in baseball, as we saw the rollout of the technology through spring training the past couple of seasons and now in the 2026 MLB regular season.
ABS works as a virtual umpire allowing athletes to challenge calls, limiting highly controversial and game-altering calls, all while keeping the human element of the game.
Athough ABS is strictly still in the big leagues, the NCAA got a taste of what that technology would be like at the collegiate level.
On May 4, the SEC announced that they would be implementing the ball-strike system on an experimental basis for the 2026 SEC tournament hosted in Hoover, Alabama.
“The introduction of this challenge system at the SEC Tournament reflects our continued commitment to innovation,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement. “This addition represents a continued step forward for our game, aligns more closely with the professional level and supports the development of our student-athletes as they prepare for success at the next level.”
The SEC utilized the same technology now incorporated in MLB stadiums from Hawk-Eye Innovations.
“We’re proud to bring a truly best-in-class ball, bat, and biomechanics tracking system to this year’s SEC Tournament,” said George Baines, head of baseball at Hawk-Eye Innovations. “This is the same core technology trusted at the highest levels of professional baseball, now being deployed in a collegiate environment for the first time at this level of fidelity. Our focus is on providing the most accurate and comprehensive tracking data possible, enabling deeper insight into player performance.”
The first use of ABS at the collegiate level ended with positive reviews coming from players and coaches after the tournament.
“At the end of the day, umpires, coaches, student-athletes, they just want to get the call right,” Kentucky coach Nick Mingione said. “You just want to get it right. It’s just another way to make sure you get the call right.”
But how viable is it at the large scale of the NCAA?
Cost is a big factor, said ASU baseball student manager Anna Hobbs, who is also a part of the analytics team.
“Logistically, it’s rough,” Hobbs said. “MLB uses Hawkeye for their ball-point tracking, and most schools use Trackman, which is cheaper. Like we’re talking six figures versus five figures.”
While it would be a hefty bill for top Power Four schools, smaller schools would not be able to keep up.
“If you wanted to implement it throughout college baseball, it would be an issue at smaller schools and just the affordability of that tracking software,” Hobbs said.
Another obstacle ABS would face at the collegiate level would be the sheer amount of players.
To generate the strike zone, ABS has to take the player’s height into consideration, and while that works at the major league level, the NCAA has a lot more athletes to take into account.
“From an analytics perspective, that can be kind of a nightmare sometimes,” Hobbs said. “There are no fixed dimensions of the strike zone. Like college and MLB all have their own interpretations and then you are throwing player height, and MLB has fewer players than college does, so that would be a lot to deal with.”
Although the SEC raved about the positive reviews, some players had feedback about the size of the strike zone.
“I did hear that a lot of players had issues with the zone they were using,” Hobbs said. “I believe the zone that they were using was adding two inches to the MLB zone.”
For the SEC tournament, the width of the strike zone was extended to 19 inches compared to the MLB strike zone that is 17 inches wide, corresponding with the width of home plate, making the strike zone bigger than what these athletes are used to.
Although the SEC was the only conference to utilize the new technology, the Big 12 had a unique opportunity for their conference tournament.
The Big 12 tournament was played in Surprise Stadium, the Cactus League home of the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals, which was already equipped with the tool and facilities used for ABS as it were tested in spring training.
What could be seen as a missed opportunity raises legitimate concerns as players would have to play a whole tournament with a new set of rules, and a new strike zone, with no practice.
“It’s just weird to play arguably your most important games with a different rule set than the rest of the season,” Hobbs said. “The big leagues got to practice calling pitches and stuff all spring, and our guys would have never done that before.”
Despite playing in a ballpark ready for ABS, the conference opted not to use the system during the tournament. The Big 12 did not respond to requests for a comment.
Although financial and logistical hurdles remain, the SEC tournament offered a glimpse of what ABS would look like in college baseball, and how it could further evolve with the game.
“I’m excited that they tried it,” Hobbs said. “I think that’s a cool direction to go. College is so different from MLB, it’s hard to say if people are discussing it at this level because some people think college baseball is just a developmental thing. So they’re like ‘Oh it’s not that serious.’ But obviously it means a lot to everybody here.”
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