NCAA Changes College 'World Series' Setup

(Columbia Daily Tribune, Thursday May 13, 1954)

The National Collegiate Athletic association came out today with a new baseball plan changing the structure of its "college world series".

It said the plan, which goes into effect this year, will:

1. Permit more teams to compete for the national baseball championship,

2. Provide a better opportunity to qualify the strongest teams,

3. Stimulate interest in conference and tournament play.

Under the old system, eight teams - each representing an NCAA district - competed in a tournament for the national championship.

Here is the new setup:

There will be a field of 26 to 30 teams - 13 of which will qualify automatically as conference champions. The remaining 13 to 17 will be selected as teams-at-large. A 32-team bracket structure will be set up, with some teams getting byes.

First-round and second-round games will be played at eight different playoff sites. The playoff winners will then compete in double-elimination finals at Omaha, Neb., June 10-14, for the national championship.

The Big Seven, the host conference this year, is scheduled to receive a bye to the finals.

The Big Seven, Missouri Valley and Southwest conference champions are among those who will automatically qualify for the tourney field.

This is how these three conferences stack up at present:

Oklahoma, the 1951 national champion leads the Big Seven conference with a 5-0 record at present. Oklahoma A&M and St. Louis play for the Missouri Valley conference title this weekend. Texas has already won the Southwest conference crown.


Southwest Loop to Vote on Expansion
(Columbia Daily Tribune, May 14, 1954)

Southwest conference officials arrived in Waco yesterday for another and more insistent vote on expansion.

The tight 7-member league will be asked to invite Texas Tech, Oklahoma and University of Houston. Texas Tech and Houston backers are confident their schools will make it. Oklahoma hasn't indicated it would accept an invitation if given one.

Tech started trying to get into the conference back in the thirties although the first official vote on the question didn't come until 1948, the year Houston made public its desires to become a member.

Sooners Lose to K.U.
Tigers Tied for Lead
(Columbia Daily Tribune, Friday May 14, 1954)

The Oklahoma Sooners and Missouri Tigers opened their showdown series at Rollins field today tied for first place in the Big Seven conference baseball standings.

The idle Tigers moved into a tie for the lead yesterday when Kansas handed the Sooners their first league loss, 7-3, at Lawrence.

A home run by Kansas' Bob Allison, a double and two singles gave the Jayhawks a three-run fourth inning and the victory. Kansas completed its schedule with a 4-5 conference record and a 10-6 season mark.

After the two-game series here today and tomorrow, the Sooners and Tigers each have four games remaining. Oklahoma will play Colorado at Norman May 21 and 22 and Iowa State at home May 28 and 29. Missouri will meet Nebraska here next Monday and Tuesday and Iowa State at Ames May 21 and 22.