Once-a-week format is out of here

The path to the high school baseball state tournament became a little shorter, and much more challenging, after Florida High School Athletic Association postseason changes were approved Monday.

The FHSAA’s baseball advisory committee voted to condense its regional schedule after four years of playing just one playoff game per week. The measure is expected to gain final approval by FHSAA executive director George Tomyn today.

“This is a start to getting the system right,” Apopka coach Michael McDaniel said. “There’s a few more adjustments that need to be made, but most of us are happy with what’s been done and look forward to working with FHSAA moving forward.”

The new format means region semifinal and final games in Class 4A-1A will be played on Tuesday and Friday of the same week. Region quarterfinal and semifinal games in Class 9A-5A will be played on Wednesday and Saturday followed by region finals on Tuesday.

The change falls in line with regular season and district tournament schedules. Teams typically play two to three games per week, which means managing pitching staffs against mandatory pitch-count limits come into play when the games matter most.

“This is a big-time win for high school baseball in the state of Florida,” said Trinity Prep coach Trevor Berryhill. “To make the final four is a tremendous accomplishment and now a team will not be able to ride one pitcher all the way to the championship game.”

A high school pitcher requires three full days of rest for throwing between 61-75 pitches and four days of rest for 76 or more pitches. The region semifinal and final games were separated by a full week during the 2015 and 2016 seasons, as were all three regional rounds the past two years for large classification schools.

The current system allowed for standout pitchers such as Timber Creek’s Bret Neilan in 2017 and Orange City University’s Logan Allen in 2015 and 2017 to play primary roles in helping their teams advance to championship games as the lone region playoff and state semifinal starters.

“I really like the changes. It is more in line with what baseball is about,” Timber Creek coach Tim Beaman said. “I also like the fact it mirrors what we do during the season. It just isn’t baseball playing one game a week.”

The FHSAA’s shortened playoff schedule also allows for an additional week of preseason practices.

The one downside will likely be felt if the playoffs are drenched by rain, as experienced last month, which forced numerous postponements.

“The only step I think still needs to be made is moving the season back to when it started in mid-January for practices and beginning of February for preseason classics,” Hagerty coach Matt Cleveland said. “That would eliminate the multitudes of rainouts that come with the mid- to lateMay rainy season. But today was definitely a step in the right direction.”