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For 2011, the NCAA implemented new standards for non-wood bats, and halfway through the season, college baseball is seeing a major decline in home runs and cumulative batting average. This year, the average Division I team is hitting 0.47 home runs a game while scoring 5.63 runs, compared with 0.85 home runs and 6.98 runs at last year's midway point.

Featuring smaller sweet spots, the new bats are designed to decrease the exit speed of the ball off the bat and make the game safer for pitchers and infielders. Proponents of the change also feel that by limiting offense, games will speed up. While the change is certainly welcomed by pitchers, not every coach is impressed by the affect on offensive numbers.

"I didn't see what was wrong with the bats last year," University of North Carolina Head Coach Mike Fox told the Associated Press. "I thought last year there were great pitching performances, and if you could pitch, you could beat the hitter. There were just enough home runs to keep it interesting."

Stanford University Head Coach Mark Marquess agrees, and wonders if the change will cost college baseball fan support. "I'm a little concerned it's too much," he told the A.P. "I was concerned about making any change when we're doing so well as far as the popularity of college baseball. I've been at this a long time, and it's never been as popular as it is now."

Among the NCAA's other findings, comparing midseason 2010 to this year:
• The overall batting average has dropped from .301 to .279
• Earned run average went from 5.83 to 4.62
• The number of shutouts have risen from 277 to 444.

Click here to download a PDF comparing numbers from 2011 against those from 2010.

According to the NCAA.org, there are similar trends in NCAA Divisions II and III. "In Division II, scoring has gone from 6.86 to 5.90 and home runs have dropped from .72 to .43. In Division III, the decline in scoring is from 7.05 to 6.03, and in home runs it is from .54 to .30."

NCAA Baseball Rules Committee chair Jeff Hurd, a senior associate commissioner at the Western Athletic Conference, says coaches and players in his conference are on board with the change.

"Our coaches in the WAC for the most part are not upset about it--they realize it's just different, and they're OK with that," Hurd told NCAA.org. "I believe coaches and players overall understand why this change was made, and generally speaking, the reaction has been positive."

Division II Baseball Committee chair Jeff Schaly said coaches at his level have taken the change in stride.

"I haven't gotten the sense that coaches are either pleased or upset with the change," he told the NCAA.org. "It's more of a 'this is what it is and we're dealing with it' kind of thing. But there's also no question that coaches understand why these changes were made."

The Baseball Rules Committee meets in July, and Hurd is looking forward to reviewing an entire year's worth of data and getting more feedback from coaches about the new bat standards.

"We need a full season of numbers to review before we can make any definitive statements," Hurd said. "We also need more feedback from coaches nationwide to determine not only the impact on the game itself but how they feel about whether the game has improved."

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In other news, the grand opening of Omaha's TD Ameritrade Park--the new home for the College World Series--will be a sellout. On April 19, the 24,000-seat venue will open with a game between Creighton University and the University of Nebraska that will be televised nationally by CBS Sports Network. Creighton is playing its final 12 home games at the new ballpark, which replaces Rosenblatt Stadium.

R.J. Anderson is Online Editor at Athletic Management.