ON THE SIDELINES : College Baseball Format Maintained

The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee has decided to continue the same College World Series format another year, said Dennis Poppe, NCAA director of men’s championships.

The format consists of two four-team divisions in double-elimination playoffs to determine the clubs for the sudden-death championship game.

“There was a proposal to flip-flop the teams after the field is reduced to four,” Poppe said.

This year, the last four survivors were Wichita State, Texas, Louisiana State and Florida State. Wichita State eliminated Florida State and Texas ousted LSU to advance to the title game, won by Wichita State 5-3. Under the proposed change, Wichita State would have played LSU and Texas would have met Florida State in the games leading to the final.