In a bit of an about-face, the National Federation of State High School Associations has moved up the timetable on its allowance for the use of titanium bats in high school baseball games, prompting the Maine Principals’ Association to do the same for Maine high school teams.

A posting about the bats on the NFHS Web site two months ago announced that bats containing titanium, which were manufactured by Easton and advertised as titanium, do not meet the Ball Exit Speed Ratio standard – a measurement of the speed of the ball after being hit by a bat.

The BESR standard mandates that the speed of balls off legal bats (exit speed) can be no greater than 97 miles per hour. The new titanium bats do carry BESR certification marks, which make them legal under current rules.

“Up until [the NFHS] posted that, we were under the impression those bats would be illegal to use this season, but legal next year,” said MPA assistant executive director Larry LaBrie. “They’re just basically accepting these earlier than they were going to. I suspect a lot of it is legally driven, but I don’t know for sure.”

After noticing the NFHS posting, the MPA acted quickly to revamp its rules posting as well.

Elliot Hopkins, NFHS assistant director and liaison to the Baseball Rules Committee, is quoted on the NFHS Web site as saying “Whether the bat is titanium, ceramic or whatever, if it has the BESR mark, it can be used immediately.”

Hopkins did say that bats with BESR marks are still not required until Jan. 1, 2003. Bats that are legal by current rules can be used through 2002, but they must have BESR marks to be used after 2002.

These new requirements do not pertain to wooden bats.

Since 1990, BESR standards also mandate bats have the following requirements: a maximum bat barrel diameter of 2? inches and a minus-3 differential between the length and weight of the bat. For example, a 33-inch bat cannot weigh less than 30 ounces. For several years, titanium bats were illegal under NFHS rules, but those rules were not based on any real scientific data and predated the BESR standards.

According to NFHS, all these recent changes in bat requirements have been made to minimize the risk of injury to high school student-athletes and maintain the balance between offense and defense and stay within the sound traditions of the game of baseball.

Another rules change adopted late last summer was the return of the appeal play in high school baseball after an 18-year absence.

That means if a defensive team believes a runner failed to touch a base or failed to tag up as soon as the ball is touched or caught by the defense, an appeal can be made either by the coach or any player.

Appeals must be made before the next pitch, at the end of an inning before the players and all infielders have left fair territory, or – on the last play of the game – before the umpires leave the field of play.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or e-mail aneff@bangordailynews.net.