City Section to Reinstate Full Schedule : Prep baseball: Commissioner approves plan devised by coaches to increase conference games from 10 to 17.

City Section Commissioner Hal Harkness agreed in principle Wednesday to a plan proposed by section baseball coaches that would reinstate the 17-game conference baseball schedule, which had been pared to 10 games because of sweeping, school district-wide budget cuts.

Barring an unexpected stumbling block, the new schedule could be in place by the end of the month.

“This will keep baseball very close to the old format with just a few adjustments,” Harkness said. “And it will still effect the same (budgetary) savings.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District cuts pared the City’s athletic transportation budget, limiting the availability of buses. In the fallout, much of the 17-game baseball schedule was sacrificed.

San Fernando Coach Steve Marden, who presented the plan to Harkness on Tuesday, said that 22 baseball coaches from throughout the City met two weeks ago to discuss revisions that would “preserve the integrity of the league and conference schedule and allow the players to have enough at-bats to remain comparable to Southern Section schools.”

In order to keep the varsity conference schedule at 17 games, three games were pared from the junior-varsity schedule. When possible, the junior varsity also will share a bus with the tennis team to save money. Three preseason varsity baseball scrimmages also were eliminated. Marden and Harkness said it all came down to dollars and sense.

“If we can save the district the same amount of money, then let’s take a little off here and keep the 17 games for the varsity,” Marden said. “Hal Harkness was given a bottom line, and we were able to reach it.”

Harkness hopes to finalize the varsity baseball schedule over the next few weeks.

One change from the previous varsity format involves the order in which the league and conference games will be played, although the total number of games is expected to remain unchanged at 17. Under the City alignment, there are two four-team leagues in each conference.

The previous schedule opened with teams playing three games against league members, then eight home-and-away games against the other teams in the conference. The regular season ended with six home-and-away games against league members for a total of 17 games within the conference.

Under the new proposal, the season opens with eight consecutive home-and-away games against conference foes. Six home-and-away games within the league will be played, followed by three single games against league teams.

“We’re planning to develop a template on the computer, run some mock schedules and go from there,” Harkness said. “I was pleased with the schedule. . . . If we can pull this off, we’ll do it.”

The three games outlined for elimination from the junior-varsity schedule will come at the end of the season.

Under another provision of the plan, junior-varsity players will be eligible to join the varsity at that time, Marden said.