JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — College baseball has struggled for decades to find the correct balance between offense and pitching.

Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said he hopes the latest change — switching to a flat-seam ball — will finally provide some “harmony” for the sport.

The new baseball debuts on Friday, when the season begins throughout the country.

Researchers found that the flat-seam ball could travel as much as 20 feet farther in the air than the previous raised-seam ball.

On the practice field, coaches and players are seeing the same results. Almost all expect at least a modest boost in offensive production. UCLA coach John Savage said he expects to see a “significant jump in offensive numbers across the board, not just in homers.”