Big 12 Tournament to return to double-elimination format

■ Big 12 changes baseball championship format (big12sports.com)

Big 12 Conference athletic directors Wednesday approved a proposal from the league's baseball coaches to change the format of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship. Starting with next season's event in Oklahoma City, the event will use a double-elimination format.

The eight teams that qualify will be split into two four-team pools and will use double-elimination to determine a winner of each pool. Those winners will meet in a one-game championship game.

The Championship will start on Wednesday with four games followed by four games on Thursday. The Friday and Saturday schedules will be determined by on the number of games needed to determine the winners in each pool. The championship game will be held on Sunday.

Big 12 baseball coaches wanted to make the change for two reasons. First, the double-elimination format mirrors what is used in the NCAA tournament. Second, the current four-team pool play format was determined by head-to-head records and last year the two teams that met in the championship game (Baylor and Texas A&M) were determined before Saturday's four games. Those games were basically meaningless.

With the athletic directors approving the change, it will be passed on to the presidential level and must be approved by the Big 12's board of directors at their next meeting in October.