What's the rule for blocking the plate in college?

A catcher in NCAA is allowed to block the plate if he is in the immediate act of fielding the ball. Without seeing it, I can't say if he was.

It's also not an issue of "sorting out." This rule hasn't changed in a while in NCAA. MLB screwed the pooch in how they changed their rules, which is why it's been modified (mid-season, even) a couple of times.

My 2017 is a catcher and he's never been "blown-up" at the plate and I hope it stays that way as he hopefully keeps playing... I support MLB's move to severely curtail collisions at the plate.

The problem is that MLB didn't address the main cause of collisions, which is the runner. If they put in something like NCAA 8-7, they would have solved most of the avoidable collisions.

Initially, MLB had it so that if there was a runner advancing to home, the catcher couldn't be in the basepath at all without the ball. That's why you had some goofy rulings where the runner was 30 feet away when F2 got the ball and then ruled safe on review.

That is sort of the HS rule (probably close enough for announcer speak).

Yes, he was in the act of fielding the ball.  I assumed, like the new MLB rule, that he needed to provide a lane to the plate but I guess not.

I am a UCLA fan and it was just a great play. I have seen lots of similar plays in college the past years and I have never seen it called blocking ever. Just good hard baseball. 

What about the play at the plate in the Illini game on Monday?Ened up with opposing player and coach in the parking lot for final 5 innings.

Agreed.  I haven't watched a lot of college ball so it surprised me the runners (it happened twice to UCLA) took the same futile approach - trying to slide through the catcher's legs.  No attempt to slide around the catcher like you see in MLB.  Not sure what the strategy was - hoping the catcher wouldn't catch the ball, hoping for an off-line throw?  It seems like either the deck is stacked against the runner on this play or the runner's tactic was flawed.

In the case at Wright State / Illinois game the catcher caught the ball probably 5 feet up the line but the runner was probably 8-10 feet away from him when he caught it. The runner did not slide or attempt to avoid collision but kind of barreled thru the catcher. He should have been tossed. Pretty clear you cannot run over a catcher and he did just that. Umpire did not handle the whole situation very well and it escalated very quickly, When the umpire got in the face of WSU batter coming to plate at top of next inning after he said something (I grant you he should have not said anything), but being the authority figure he was out of control in the players face yelling (the player did not do that but I have no doubts said something he shouldn't have). Coach came out to protect his player again and while being led away by 3rd base coach was tossed.

After that half inning Illinois batboy was on field (not sure why but he was probably delivering baseballs), he yelled something at our SS  who yelled something back to him and he was tossed.

Bottom line is umpires handled this completely wrong from non ejection Illinois player who barreled over WSU catcher to tossing WSU player IMO.

I do not think it would have changed outcome. Illinois had just taken lead 5-4 when this all occurred and Jay from Illinois came in and pitched last 4 innings. HE is the real thing. VERY impressive

In real time, I can see this being either nothing or MC. On replay, I have MC because it appears that the runner deliberately initiated contact above the waist.

Agreed.  Note also that the umpire got tangles up with the previous runner, so didn't have a good look at the collision, and you don't want to guess at MC.  My guess is that he would have had an out for "attempting to dislodge the ball" even if F2 had dropped the ball, but he still would not have had MC.

Noumpire, agreed he did get tangled up and one of my gripes with him is HC for WSU was asking him to ask for help on this very thing and he refused, saying he saw it. Not sure how he could have seen it clearly. That incited the coach the most. 4 umpires, he should have asked for help. If no one else saw it then ok, but it was pretty clear (I was may 50-70 feet away on 3rd base side so I had clear view) he barreled the catcher and threw his arm into chest of catcher

Did he actually say he saw it? Even if I don't have a clear view, I'm not going for help on this one. There is nothing any of my guys can do to help because of the nature of the play, and I'm passing the buck to them if I do.

god point Matt, I can only go from about 3rd hand on whether he said he saw it. Coach told players and my son (one of the players) told me. I don't understand not asking for help if you don't see something or not sure. Isn't that part of why there is an umpire crew? The idea is to get it right, if no one saw it clearly, ok. To me ta is same as when umpires confer on other things

It's because everyone else has other responsibilities on the play, and have (at best) nothing to offer. At worst, they have incorrect information based on them being in a bad position to see what happened. There are absolutely times to get together...MC at the plate is not one of them. 

In short, going to someone else on plays that are not their responsibility is more often to lead to an incorrect call than a correct one. MLB figured that out in very short order, which is why replay was accelerated. The camel put its nose in the tent when they "encouraged" crews to consult on disputed plays...then they found out that it was having the opposite outcome than what was desired. Since they couldn't go back to the way it was, replay got significant impetus.

I could see that with 2 umpires. In this case there were 4, at the time of collision, the only other base runner would have been at 2b, So I can see the 2b and 3b umpires having other responsibilities. but 1B might have had a clear view. He would have just had exact opposite of me, so if he was looking (and I understand it would be if) then he might have a clear opinion of the MC or not. Again, that is why I think the questions should have been raised to PU's fellow umpires. I think if the plate umpire had done that, even if the call had not gone the way of MC as WSU coach wanted, the situation would have been defused.

Instead the PU wanted to yell at everyone. Just my opinion.

FYI, I do umpire occasionally. Mostly young kids but have done if for well over a decade, so I am in umpires favor most of the time (unless it is against my kid of course )   

Umpires don't last at the collegiate level if they just want to yell at everyone, let alone work the dish in a D1 Regional.

I'll put this from the perspective of U1...I'm immediately going into crowd control mode after a collision like that. Even if I had seen "something," I'm 115 feet away and not putting any stock in what I have. If PU comes to me, I'm telling him I have nothing for him and that he needs to get his own calls. I simply cannot give him anything definitive in which I would have any confidence. He knows that. That's why we don't go for help.

Matt (I'm no ump)  With what you've said and I'm not disagreeing wouldn't you have to say that the ump was clearly out of position to lets be honest make any call.Without there being problems.After pushing/trying to push r1 out of the way everything he saw was behind the catcher.Is that the proper place to make that call?I didn't start watching the game till after the play.That was the basic topic tho for remainder of game.When I watched the play not only could I hardly believe the r2 was in game but I'm thinking one of our local guys are calling b& s at the regional final.

Don't get me wrong Matt, as far as plays during game, other than the disputed call, I think he did a really good job. His strike zone was very consistent, neither team nor fans were squawking about it all day which says a lot in a pressure packed game like this one was. Typical groans because of so many close pitches by both sides, but truly called a very good strike zone 

I would say he is probably an excellent umpire, he just handled the whole collision at plate and the aftermath wrong in my opinion.  He got mad, I can understand, no one like being confronted, but I thought he should have handled it better. I have no doubts he has handled lots of situations perfectly over the years.

I guess we just disagree what should have happened after the play as far as asking for help. I truly think if he had asked for help and it still stood as called, the crowd control mode would have worked. I would not have liked call as a fan of catchers team but would have been ok with 1B umpire of any other one saying I did not have a clear view from 115 feet.  Yelling at everyone did not create crowd control mode IMO

Generally, we try to stay on the catcher's hip, which means that he should have been a bit further left on this play. That being said, the vast, vast, vast majority of plays at this level end up being taken from third-base line extended, because you end up there anyway. That's where he was.

And I'd be lying if I said I never pushed a runner out of the way. It happens. What I do have issue with is him trying to get the bat out of the way. Wasn't needed, and maybe the runner wouldn't have been there.

All in all, I think he was a little late reading the play. 

I didn't see him just "yelling at people." Lovelady, OTOH...he should be getting a game or two off for his antics.

Here's my point on going for help. In this type of situation in the grand scheme of things, it's going to most likely lead to an incorrect call if PU takes anyone else's opinion. Sometimes that means that initially incorrect calls stand. Overall, it's better not to do so.

Coach certainly was mad, most mad I have ever seen him. notice earlier when I said about who should have or have not gotten ejected, he was not included. I knew when he went up there second time he was most likely going to be thrown out.

I think the PU yelled at Lovelady but that was give and take, no real issue there, it was when he was yelling at 3 different player later, In there face, first 2 tried to walk away and he followed, made them turn around and he let them have it, First one was when Lovelady went back to the plate and ultimately got tossed. second one was one bat later.  Third time was when the player was tossed an inning later. Like I said he was just mad.

I can understand you reasoning for not asking for assistance. I just disagree doesn't make me right,

Sounds like the catcher was blocking the path to homeplate before he caught the ball? 

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Doesn't matter. As I said above, he's allowed to block if he's in the act of fielding the throw.

When it comes to game management...just going to throw out a different perspective, and I will say that I did not see the subsequent incidents you mentioned.

Every one of my multiple-ejection games have been due to participants not letting go of past events. There's a contested play (like here,) players and/or coaches get heated, and they either get the riot act or they get tossed. That needs to be the end of the story. In my cases, an inning, a couple of innings, in one case five innings later, participants kept bringing it up. Boom...gone. Often, this doesn't occur in a vacuum--there's a general snippiness on the part of the team that's ongoing. From outside the lines, yeah, I am going to look like a redass, because no one can hear what's coming from the dugout or what's being said to me by the batters.

Have I seen situations where umpires could have handled it better? Absolutely. Have I seen situations where umpires were gunning for ejections (at this level?) Never. Even if there was one, the NCAA's requirements when it comes to post-ejection responsibilities would take care of it...if I have a late game and I have an ejection, I can pretty much guarantee I'm not getting much sleep that night with the things I have to send, and our reports are scrutinized highly (not a complaint, just a statement of fact.)  I had a run-of-the-mill ejection in a regular-season D3 game that resulted in a call from the then-National Coordinator because of some wording.

Add to that, we now have to inform the ejectee of any suspensions that result from their actions. Those suspensions depend on whether they're a head coach, assistant, position player, or pitcher, and whether they were arguing, fighting, throwing at a batter, engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct, etc. etc. There's a matrix that has the relevant number of games for each act, and seriously, it's hard to read on anything less than 8x11. 

The NCAA has made it so that being quick on the trigger or baiting is painful. Again, not a complaint...just pointing out that there is little incentive for any umpire to be gunning for anyone.