The NCAA News - News & Features

III baseball seeks to shorten championship finals format

The committee, meeting July 24-27 in Beaver Creek, Colorado, will recommend that the championship finals be conducted in five days instead of six. The proposal calls for four games to be played in each of the first two days of competition, followed by three games the third day and two games in each of the final two days of the championship finals.

The committee's intent is to provide a level playing field for all eight teams that advance to the championship finals. The change from a six-day format to five eliminates a rest day for certain teams and ensures that no team can play more than one game per day.

With this change, the committee also will recommend a change in the days that the event is staged.

Currently, the championship finals are conducted from the Thursday before Memorial Day through the Tuesday after Memorial Day.

The committee recommends that competition start on the Saturday before Memorial Day and conclude with the championship game on the Wednesday after Memorial Day.

The committee believes this change will allow fans to see more games on the weekend (four on Saturday and four on Sunday), as opposed to Thursday and Friday, which are normal workdays.

Finally, the committee voted to recommend a contract extension with the city of Salem, Virginia, to host the championship through 1999. The current contract runs through 1997.