Big 12 Baseball Tournament Set

The Big 12 Baseball Tournament gets underway tomorrow, and the conference has shaken up the format this year. In the new tourney format, teams will be pooled into two divisions of four teams, in which a round robin format will be employed. Each team in the division will play the other three teams, then the winners of each division will meet in the championship game.

This is a big improvement from the old format, in which it was possible for a team to have to play six games in four days. The new format ensures that no team will play more than four games, and each team will play three.

To the brackets:

Division 1

1. Texas
   
4. Nebraska
   
5. Baylor
   
8. Texas Tech

2. Oklahoma State
   
3. Oklahoma
   
6. Kansas
   
7. Missouri

Wednesday, May 24
Game 1: 10 a.m. (No. 4) Nebraska vs. (No. 5) Baylor
Game 2: 1 p.m. (No. 1) Texas vs. (No. 8) Texas Tech
Game 3: 5 p.m. (No. 3) Oklahoma vs. (No. 6) Kansas
Game 4: 8 p.m. (No. 2) Oklahoma State vs. (No. 7) Missouri

Thursday, May 25
Game 5: 5 p.m. (No. 1) Texas vs. (No. 5) Baylor
Game 6: 8 p.m. (No. 4) Nebraska vs. (No. 8) Texas Tech

Friday, May 26
Game 7: 5 p.m. (No. 3) Oklahoma vs. (No. 7) Missouri
Game 8: 8 p.m. (No. 2) Oklahoma State vs. (No. 6) Kansas

Saturday, May 27
Game 9: 10 a.m. (No. 5) Baylor vs. (No. 8) Texas Tech
Game 10: 1 p.m. (No. 1 ) Texas vs. (No. 4) Nebraska
Game 11: 5 p.m. (No. 2) Oklahoma State vs. (No. 3) Oklahoma
Game 12: 8 p.m. (No. 6) Kansas vs. (No. 7) Missouri

Sunday, May 28
Championship Game 1 p.m. Division 1 Winner vs. Division 2 Winner

If Texas makes the championship game, they'll almost be guaranteed one of the Top 8 seeds in the NCAA tourney and get to host the regional on the way to Omaha. If they don't, it'll be a bit of a toss-up, though they'll still have a better than even chance of earning the regional hosting. Only a sweep (0-3) would truly jeopardize their chances.

In the event of a tie (three teams go 2-1, while one team goes 0-3) within a division, the tiebreaker goes to head-to-head meetings, then overall conference record. Good news for Texas.

Hook `Em Horns!

--PB--