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The NCAA News - News and FeaturesThe NCAA News -- March 1, 1999 Administrative committee rules on baseball championship issues The Division III Administrative Committee addressed issues related to the Division III baseball championship in a February 11 conference call. Several of these issues have arisen because some Division III institutions and conferences have chosen to adopt the more rigid "three-prong" standard for baseball bats. However, 1999 NCAA baseball championships will be using the revised "two-prong" standard approved by the NCAA Executive Committee. The Division III Administrative Committee, which has the authority to act on behalf of the Division III Management Council and Presidents Council between meetings, approved a recommendation from the Division III Championships Committee to sponsor noncontroversial legislation creating a waiver provision for NCAA Bylaw 31.2.1.1 (commitment to participate). The committee also approved a recommendation to grant a waiver of Bylaw 31.2.1.1 for the 1999 Division III Baseball Championship for any institution unable to participate because institutional policy precludes it from competing against teams that do not use the August 1, 1999, three-prong standard for baseball bats. The waiver would permit those institutions to participate in a postseason event other than the NCAA Division III championship. In another action, the committee approved a recommendation from the Division III Membership Committee to grant a waiver of NCAA Bylaw 20.10.3.2 (minimum contest requirements for sports sponsorship) if an institution fails to complete the minimum number of contests because it chooses to forfeit or cancel games against teams whose bats do not conform to the three-prong standard. The waiver would be applicable only to those institutions that have designated baseball as one of their four sports for males in order to meet the minimum sports-sponsorship requirements. The committee also:
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