NCAA DISCUSSES BAT ISSUE.

Byline: Associated Press 

The debate over new standards for non-wood bats in the 1999 NCAA baseball playoffs now goes to the organization's Executive Committee, after a Division I governing body failed Tuesday to reach the same consensus as those reached in Division II and Division III.

The Division I Championships-Competition Cabinet agreed with the other two boards that the bats' maximum allowable diameter should be decreased to 2-5/8 inches and that their weight differential should be increased.

But the cabinet did not include a specification that would limit the exit velocity of batted balls to 93 mph.

The rule change, aimed mostly at aluminum bats, was designed to make them behave more like wooden bats.

The NCAA says batted balls off aluminum bats achieve such velocity - up to 113 mph - that they pose a danger to players, especially pitchers who might not have time to recover from their pitching motions in time to protect themselves.

Another concern was that aluminum bats have caused an increase in home runs, changing the way the game is played.

The latter concern was underscored in the 1998 College World Series championship game, in which USC beat Arizona State 21-14.

The game lasted four hours as the teams combined for nine home runs and 39 hits.

The NCAA was sued in August by Easton Sports of Van Nuys, a manufacturer of aluminum bats. Jim Easton, president of the company, has said there may not be enough bats to complete the 1999 regular season if the 1.3 million bats now in the hands of colleges and dealers were outlawed.

Jean Lenti Ponsetto, the cabinet's chairwoman and senior associate athletics director at Depaul, said the Division I baseball committee had expressed the same concern. That is why the cabinet did not adopt that restriction, Ponsetto said.

The Easton lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., alleges the restrictions were an unlawful restraint of trade. It seeks $267 million in damages.

Easton was in Europe on Tuesday and not immediately available for comment.

The Colorado Springs, Colo.-based National Junior College Activities Association will likely follow the NCAA's decision, executive director George E. Killian said Tuesday.

``I'm going to talk to our coaches at the American Baseball Coaches Association meeting in January,'' said Killian, whose organization includes 530 schools. ``But I think from the legal point of view, we have to do what the NCAA does, because we follow their rules exactly.''

The NAIA, an organization of 344 small colleges based in Tulsa, Okla., will conduct its own review and make its own recommendations, according to a statement issued Tuesday.

The review committee will include NAIA baseball coaches and NAIA staff. The statement did not say when that process will begin.