BASEBALL: UIL to listen to flip playoff series to best-of-three formats
t.co/XNJLPn8Vuswww.mystatesman.com/news/sports/high-school/uil-to-listen-to-flip-baseball-playoff-series-to-b/nrfqs/UIL to listen to flip baseball playoff series to best-of-three formats
HIGH SCHOOL
By Danny Davis - American-Statesman Staff
Posted: 4:32 p.m. Monday, June 13, 2016
Alamo Heights closed out its baseball season last Friday with a 9-2 loss to Grapevine in the Class 5A state championship game.
The San Antonio-based Mules went 27-8 this season with seven of those wins coming in the postseason. En route to its inaugural appearance at the UIL state tournament, Alamo Heights relied on a pitching phenom, some timely hits and lucky coin flips.
Wait. Coin flips?
The only thing traditionally set in stone throughout the state baseball and softball playoffs are the participants. Representatives from each school must decide on series particulars such as location, dates and officials. If the two sides can’t agree on a detail, a tiebreaker — usually a coin toss — is used.
Coaches also must decide whether their playoff series will be one-game or best-of-three formats. On Tuesday, however, the UIL will listen to a proposal to mandate that best-of-three format for the Class 6A state baseball tournament as well as some of the preceding playoff series.
This season, Alamo Heights coach Jason Thompson said he decided before the playoffs began that he wanted to schedule as many one-game series as possible. With right-handed pitcher Forrest Whitley, who was drafted by the Astros with the 17th overall pick in last week’s MLB Draft, on the roster, it was hard to second-guess Thompson’s plan.
Luck was on Alamo Heights’ side throughout the postseason. Four of the Mules’ five playoff series leading up to the state tournament were one-game duels; at least two of those series, against McCallum and Georgetown, were set up by coin flips. In those four one-gamers, including Alamo Heights’ 1-0 win over McCallum and 3-1 takedown of Georgetown, Whitley allowed five hits and one run while striking out 52.
“The best way to beat Alamo Heights is probably to win a coin flip, or at least that would have been our best chance,” McCallum coach Russell Houston said last month.
The state tournament games are one-game deals for the state semifinals and finals. Whitley was the winning pitcher in Alamo Heights’ 5-2 semifinals win over College Station. One day later, however, the Mulesfaltered against Grapevine in the 5A title game.
Without Whitley, who was unavailable after pitching in the semifinals, Alamo Heights used four pitchers, none of whom had thrown more than five innings throughout the playoffs.
Not all baseball teams followed Alamo Heights’ blueprint this spring, however. Of the 616 playoff series that were played in all five classifications before the state tournament, 84.7 percent were best-of-three affairs. Playing three games, the logic goes, leaves room for error while testing teams’ pitching depth and lineup strategy.
The Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association will ask the UIL’s legislative council on Tuesday to continue to consider a pilot program to institute best-of-three formats for the first and second rounds of the state playoffs for Class 6A and 5A. The THSBCA also has endorsed a proposal to turn the 6A state tournament into a best-of-three format as well.
“One, you can’t have one guy carry you all the way through the playoffs. It makes the better team be successful,” said Round Rock coach John Carter, who originally proposed those plans to the UIL on behalf of the THSBCA in 2015. “It’s better for the kids because it allows more kids to participate.”
Among the many topics that will be discussed by the UIL on Tuesday are pitch counts, shot clocks and non-sanctioned sports like water polo and lacrosse.
The council will vote on proposals to send to the commissioner of education for approval.
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