COVID delayed NC State’s CWS game. What is the NCAA policy during championships?

N.C. State’s pivotal game in the College World Series Friday was delayed because of COVID-19 protocols, and the Wolfpack’s roster is without four starting position players.

The game’s start was delayed until 3:07 p.m., a little more than one hour later than originally scheduled.

In a statement posted on its Twitter feed, N.C. State athletics said “an undisclosed number of players from the team have been put into COVID-19 protocol and will be unavailable for today’s game. N.C. State, the NCAA and appropriate parties are working together to monitor the situation.”

Here’s a look at the NCAA’s COVID-19 protocols for all championship games, regardless of sport.

▪ Championships will have a “controlled environment” for all Tier 1 personnel, which is players, coaches and staff, according to the NCAA. That includes following safety rules from when they leave home until they leave the championship site. In this case, Omaha, Nebraska.

▪ College World Series participating teams called for a negative antigen test within one day of arrival or a negative PCR test within two days of arrival for Tier 1 personnel.

▪ The same personnel was tested upon arrival. Anyone testing positive would quarantine until confirmed negative. Otherwise, teams were tested every other day while participating on-site.

▪ The NCAA says fully vaccinated players and other Tier 1 individuals with no COVID-19-like symptoms may be exempt from routine testing.

▪ Players and other Tier 1 participants who are not vaccinated must continue to undergo testing at NCAA championships.

According to ESPN2’s broadcast team at TD Ameritrade Park, the Wolfpack were given the choice of forfeiting Friday’s game and coming back to play on Saturday or attempting to play shorthanded on Friday. N.C. State chose to play with their 13 available players.

N.C. State needs to beat Vanderbilt either Friday or in a possible Saturday game to reach the best-of-three College World Series championship series for the first time in program history.

This story was originally published June 25, 2021 at 3:54 PM.