NCAA Reports Increased Homers Midway Through Season

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Home runs are up 39 percent in Division I baseball compared with the first half of the 2014 season, an indication the introduction of the flat-seam ball is having the desired effect.

According to the NCAA midseason statistical report Wednesday, the per-team home-run rate has gone from 0.36 a game to 0.50.

Fifty teams have hit 20 or more home runs. Eighteen teams had hit that many at this point a year ago. Forty-three players have seven or more homers, compared with 19 players who had that many through March 2014.

College baseball switched from a raised-seam ball to a flat-seam ball this season with the hope it would help inject more offense into the game. Research showed a flat-seam ball was not affected as much by wind resistance.

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