MIAA baseball makes history with first officials replay
In partnership with SkyCoach, baseball history was made within the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
In the bottom of the second inning of the Missouri Western vs. St. Cloud State game on Feb. 9, 2024, the conference had its first regular season replay as part of the pilot testing program for instant replay technology during the 2024 baseball and softball seasons.
“SkyCoach has allowed the MIAA baseball schools the ability to have cutting edge technology for a very affordable cost.”
St. Cloud State challenged a play of a Missouri Western player called safe on second base. After the officials used SkyCoach technology, the play stood as initially called. However, the next day, the MIAA had their first play overturned, which you can watch in the video above.
“We were hopeful that the MIAA could make instant replay work in baseball and softball using the same SkyCoach technology we had used the past two seasons in MIAA football,” said MIAA commissioner Mike Racy, who was instrumental in pushing the NCAA to allow the conference to experiment with instant replay for football in 2022.
“(The) test at MWSU baseball confirms that we can do this - reliable, affordable and easy to use technology that will help make MIAA baseball and softball even better!”
As Racy stated, the MIAA has been leading the way amongst Division II conferences using SkyCoach’s instant sideline replay as a solution to enhance their sports. The conference’s football teams have used SkyCoach for the last two years while several of their volleyball and basketball teams also use SkyCoach’s replay system.
Chris Coskey, the MIAA Supervisor of Baseball Umpires, had this to say regarding the historic nature of the first replay: “SkyCoach has allowed the MIAA baseball schools the ability to have cutting edge technology for a very affordable cost. This replay technology is reliable and easy to use, putting the MIAA conference ahead of everyone in the country. Amazing stuff!”
SkyCoach provides the MIAA umpires instantaneous access to recorded video from different camera angles around the field. The umpires are in control of what they want to see.
Missouri Western won the game, 5-0, over St. Cloud State, and clinched the weekend series.
MIAA pilot baseball programs include University of Central Missouri, Missouri Western State University and Pittsburg State University. The University of Central Oklahoma, Rogers State University and the University of Nebraska Kearney will test instant replay for softball.
The results from the pilot test sites will be analyzed by MIAA coaches and administrators in the summer to determine the possibility of full implementation of instant replay technology at all campuses for the 2025 spring MIAA baseball and softball seasons.
