National Collegiate Athletic Association |
The NCAA News - News and FeaturesThe NCAA News -- August 16, 1999 Automatic qualification dominates baseball committee discussion The Division III Baseball Committee awarded 28 conferences automatic qualification for the 2000 championship and set guidelines for the tournament at its annual meeting July 13-16 in Kansas City, Missouri. The tournament's expansion to 42 teams, which was approved by the Division III Championships Committee, will include a pool format. Pool A will include the conferences that receive automatic bids (28 berths); Pool B includes independents and institutions belonging to conferences that are not included as automatic qualifiers (eight berths); and Pool C consists of schools that were not selected in Pool A (six berths). The committee also discussed the effect of the 29-game rule on automatic qualifiers and reaffirmed that automatic qualifiers are required to abide by the rule. In addition, the committee finalized selection procedures for the 2000 championship. Selections will be conducted Sunday, May 14, at 6 p.m. Central time. Institutions are required to submit appropriate score reporting forms on Monday, April 24 and Monday, May 8. The committee voted to retain the current format for the 2000 championship. However, minor changes were made to game times as follows:
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