Big 12 baseball will be double elimination

The Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship is finally giving up on the pool play format.

The tournament will return to an eight-team, double-elimination format. It will actually consist of two, four-team brackets with the winners facing off in the championship game May 29.

The luster of pool play, which was instituted so fans knew when their teams were playing and to keep the strain off pitching arms from playing in more than four games, waned the last couple of years with several meaningless games being played. Those games had sparse attendance, too.

In a double elimination bracket, while the schedule is in flux, all games matter.

Tickets for the tournament can be purchased by calling the Oklahoma City RedHawks Box Office at (405) 218-1000.

-JT