Pairings | Standings
Big 12 Conference Field, Pairings Set
DALLAS - It took a near-11th-hour doubleheader between Kansas State and Kansas Sunday, but the pairings for the sixth annual Phillips 66 Big 12 baseball tournament at The Ballpark in Arlington Wednesday-Sunday have been set.
Kansas State swept the Jayhawks by scores of 11-9, 7-4 and 9-0 (the latter two in a Sunday twinbill that went into the deep twilight at Tointon Family Stadium) to climb into the sixth position in seeding by virtue of Big 12 tiebreaker procedures. The Wildcats are making their first postseason appearance since the 1996 season in the Big Eight tournament.
Coach Mike Clark's team meets No. 3 seed Texas Tech in the first game of the tournament at 10 a.m. (CDT) Wednesday before No. 2 Nebraska faces No. 7 Baylor at approximately 1 p.m. (there will be a 45-minute interval between contests for field maintenance and session ticketing matters). In Game 3 on opening day No. 4 Oklahoma meets No. 5 Oklahoma State in "Bedlam South" after the teams just played three times last week in Tulsa and Oklahoma City to finish their Big 12 campaigns.
Top-seeded Texas (winner of the Big 12 championship and 19-8 in league play) faces No. 8 Texas A&M in another rematch of these teams' series last Friday-Sunday in Austin and College Station, Texas. The UT triumph in '02 represented the school's first conference crown in baseball since the 1996 season while Texas A&M makes its sixth consecutive trip to the postseason tourney since it began in Oklahoma City, Okla., in 1997.
Second-seeded Nebraska has been the hottest team in the Phillips 66 Big 12 tourney over the last three seasons. Coach Dave Van Horn's squad was won nine consecutive contests and 13 of its last 14 gams in the meet since first qualifying in 1999.
Texas Tech also enters the fray with a Big 12-longest in 2002 winning streak of 15 games-second-longest in Tech baseball annals. Coach Larry Hays' 1998 team won the postseason match at SBC Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma State (26 conference tournament appearances) and Oklahoma (25 trips to Oklahoma City in Big 12 and Big Eight activity) are two of the most visible teams in postseason play. The Cowboys won a NCAA-record 16 consecutive Big Eight tournaments from 1981-96 under current New Mexico State head coach Gary Ward.
Baylor, competing in its sixth straight Big 12 tourney and 16th league meet since 1977, made it to the tournament finals in both 1999 and '00 against Nebraska while the Huskers downed Texas A&M 7-4 in last year's title game. BU used the 1977 and '78 Southwest Conference tournaments to catapult the school into first two NCAA World Series invitations after NCAA Regional triumphs.
The 2002 tournament winner receives the Big 12's automatic bid to NCAA competition as 5-6 Big 12 teams have been projected for NCAA Regional berths in at-large selections for the 64-team field. Five teams from the Big 12 (second to the Southeastern Conference with eight bids) advanced to 2001 NCAA play, and Nebraska advanced to the NCAA World Series in Omaha, Neb., for the first time in school baseball history. Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas A&M have joined the Huskers in College World Series activity since the 1999 campaign. Oklahoma was the most recent current Big 12 member to win the NCAA baseball crown in 1994 as the eighth squad from the membership to take all the NCAA marbles. Fox Sports Net will televise the 2002 Phillips 66 tourney title contest to most of the nation via cable.
PAIRINGS
Tentative schedule (45-minute minimum between games):
Wed., May 22
Game 1: #3 Texas Tech vs. #6 Kansas State, 10 a.m.
Game 2: #2 Nebraska vs. #7 Baylor, 1 p.m.
Game 3: #4 Oklahoma vs. #5 Oklahoma State, 5 p.m.
Game 4: #1 Texas vs. #8 Texas A&M, 8 p.m.
Thu., May 23
Game 5: Losers Games 1 and 2, 10 a.m.
Game 6: Losers Games 3 and 4, 1 p.m.
Game 7: Winners Games 1 and 2, 5 p.m.
Game 8: Winners Games 3 and 4, 8 p.m.
Fri., May 24
Game 9: Opponents TBD, 4 p.m.
Game 10: Opponents TBD, 7 p.m.
Sat., May 25
Game 11: Opponents TBD, 10 a.m.
Game 12: Opponents TBD, 1 p.m.
Game 13: (If necessary), 5 p.m.
Game 14: (If necessary), 7 or 8 p.m.
Sun., May 26
Game 13, 14 or 15: Tournament championship, 1 p.m. (Fox Sports Net)