It’s the seventh inning of a tight game and Derek Boben’s pitch count has topped 100.

But there is no chance of the Moniteau pitcher handing baseball coach Ross Martin the ball.

“There was no way he was coming out of the game,” Martin said. “Even if it took a gurney.”

But starting in the spring of 2017, pitchers and coaches will no longer have that choice.

The PIAA will heed to the direction of the National Federation of State High School Associations and limit the number of pitches a high school player can throw in a game amid growing concerns about overworking young arms.

The current PIAA system limits pitchers based on innings.

Every state, plus the District of Columbia, are federation members. Each state will set its own pitch-count limit.

The PIAA has yet to set a number, but the states that have already switched to the system have pitch counts ranging from 95 to 125 per game.

“I’m very curious to see what the rule is,” Martin said. “We’ve always been cautious and set pitch counts. Derek went the most this year at 106, but he’s a special kind of pitcher.”

The guidelines widely used is if a pitcher reaches the limit, he must rest for three days.

If he throws 75 pitches, he must rest for two days.

If he throws 30 pitches on consecutive days, he must rest the third day.

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic coach John Haggarty said he thinks the change will be significant, especially come playoff time.

The coach has seen many high school players exceed 100 pitches during his coaching career.

“I’ve seen kids go 125, 135 pitches and wondered, ‘Why is that kid still on the mound?’” Haggarty said. “Whatever we can do to protect the kids, I’m all for. It’s going to be a game-changer.”

That’s because Haggarty is well aware that not all pitchers are created equal.

Two years ago, Nick Tunstall tossed a no-hitter against Riverview and needed just 69 pitches to do it.

He’s seen other hurlers throw nearly twice that in a seven-inning game.

Karns City coach Randy Collins used a sliding scale on how many pitches were too many for his hurlers.

He gave Holden Martin a higher pitch count.

“Holden threw more than most guys because he did the things you should be doing to get your arm in shape,” Collins said. “You could obviously see it. Other guys, maybe I had them on a 50-60 count.”

Mars baseball coach Andy Bednar also had a rigid pitch-count limit.

But he also said, “Often the opponent will tell us when our guy is done.”

Collins said the rule is a long time coming.

“You could tell something needed to be done,” Collins said. “Something needed to be done to keep these pitch counts down. It’s going to help a lot of kids.”

The switch comes on the heals of a startling 2015 study conducted by the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine that found 56.7 percent of Tommy John surgeries between 2007 and 2011 were performed on athletes between the ages of 15 and 19.

Knoch baseball coach George Bradley also supports the change, but is also concerned about the workload of players during the summer months outside of this pitch-count regulation.

“I have guys playing on two or three teams this summer,” Bradley said. “He can throw one day for one team and again the next day for the other team.”

Another concern is how the pitch-count limit will be enforced.

Minnesota has an official assigned to games to keep track of pitch counts. Ohio requires its coaches to report its pitch counts to the website maxpreps.com within 24 hours of the completion of the game.

The PIAA has yet to announce how it will keep track of pitch counts.

“Who is going to enforce it?” Bednar wondered. “I’m sure, obviously, teams are going to track the other team’s pitch counts now.”

Haggarty said he will do just that during section games.

Collins offered other intriguing scenarios.

What is a coach to do when his ace is approaching the limit?

Let him pitch to the next batter in the hopes of getting him out before he reaches the magic number, or risk having to remove him in the middle of an at-bat?

“It’s going to be a case of acclimating yourself to the new system,” Collins said. “Things are going to get interesting when you have three or four games in a week.”

Collins, who already stresses to his hitters to try to run up the opposing pitcher’s count, said that strategy will be even more in vogue.

He foresees a scenario where an ace pitcher on the opposing team is nearing his limit and batters simply take pitches to try to get the hurler out of the game sooner.

“It’s going to be a complete different game,” Collins said. “It’s probably going to affect a lot of teams more than they think.”