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TSSAA adds a fourth classification for baseball, basketball, softball

Staff photo / Baylor's Gehrig Ebel dives for the bag as Brentwood Academy third baseman Ben Pearce awaits the throw during a game at Baylor on April 19, 2019. Ebel, whose 2020 senior season with the Red Raiders was wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic canceling the TSSAA's spring sports schedule, is excited to return to the diamond with his eXposure Baseball select team.
Staff photo / Baylor's Gehrig Ebel dives for the bag as Brentwood Academy third baseman Ben Pearce awaits the throw during a game at Baylor on April 19, 2019. Ebel, whose 2020 senior season with the Red Raiders was wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic canceling the TSSAA's spring sports schedule, is excited to return to the diamond with his eXposure Baseball select team. Staff photo / Baylor's Gehrig Ebel dives for the bag as Brentwood Academy third baseman Ben Pearce awaits the throw during a game at Baylor on April 19, 2019. Ebel, whose 2020 senior season with the Red Raiders was wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic canceling the TSSAA's spring sports schedule, is excited to return to the diamond with his eXposure Baseball select team.

By Stephen Hargis 2 min read

The TSSAA Board of Control voted during Monday’s meeting to add a classification for baseball, basketball and softball – going from three classes to four in those sports for Division I (public schools). The change begins in the 2021-2022 school year and continues for a two-year cycle.

All four classifications will be divided evenly by enrollment, with each school’s class determined by the 20th-day enrollment figures that each submits to the TSSAA.

Eight teams from each of those classifications will advance to the state tournament for those three sports.

There was no change in the number of classifications for football – six Division I classes and three in D-II – and all other sports will have the same number of classes as the previous classification cycle as well.

Arts & Sciences currently competes in Class A, but with an enrollment of around 465 it is likely to move up to AA next year.

“We were probably one of the 10 to 20 bigger schools in Class A, and now we’ll be one of the smallest in AA, so I was not one of the advocates for adding a classification,” Patriots basketball coach Zach Dragoo said. “We’re blessed that we’ve got a really good group coming up, but it will be much tougher competition.”

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.