MINNEAPOLIS – Paul Stevens played his cards pretty well this weekend. And considering the asinine format of the Big Ten baseball tournament, he probably deserved to come home with a first- or second-place finish.

Entering the weekend as the sixth and final seed, the Cats had two routes to the title game. First, they could win three straight, against the top three seeds (Minnesota, Ohio State and Michigan State had a combined regular-season record of 103-59). Otherwise, they would be forced to try their luck in the bracket of the damned.

Actually, the loser’s bracket isn’t so bad if you’re Minnesota. The decision was made in 2000 to reseed the remaining teams after every single game of the tournament, meaning that the No. 6 seed, should it lose at any point, has to beat every other team in the bottom half of the bracket to get to the title game. The end result is that the No. 1 seed gets not only a first-round bye and a matchup against the lower seed in Round 2, but it also gets a bye in the loser’s bracket. Not to mention that it has home-field advantage throughout.

Stevens and the Cats nearly avoided the ugly side of the draw, though, thanks to a stellar pair of pitching decisions. All of the Cats’ top three starters – Gabe Ribas, Zach Schara and Ryan Bos – were available for the first round Wednesday against the Spartans. Stevens was on the money choosing Ribas, who was the starter when NU beat Michigan State in April. On Thursday, Stevens made a last-minute change and went with Schara against the top-seeded Golden Gophers, who started nine guys hitting .300. Again, the decision was fruitful, as Schara’s curveball was way too much for the home team to handle.

After its second bye of the tournament, Minnesota beat Michigan State in the loser’s bracket. NU fell to the Buckeyes on Friday.

So the Cats and Golden Gophers met again in the final of the loser’s bracket. Golden Gophers coach John Anderson was able to throw his No. 3 starter on seven days rest, while the Cats – playing their fourth game in 72 hours – had Bos, hobbled by a sore shoulder, going to the mound.

The disadvantages of the No. 6 seed just outweighed the Cats’ resolve in the Saturday matchup. And it’s not reasonable. No team should ever have to play seven games in five days (that’s the case if the sixth seed loses its first game, then advances through the loser’s bracket to the championship). The No. 1 seed shouldn’t get to play half as many games, against weaker opponents, on its home field. Why not even the field a bit to make the whole thing more competitive?

If that means making the tournament single-elimination, maybe that’s what should happen. Or the conference could keep the double elimination and invite eight teams instead of six, while extending it to a weeklong event, possibly with an off-day. That would eliminate most of the byes and give the teams some rest.

Without a chance to take a breather, fatigue becomes all too much of a factor for at least one of the teams that makes it to Saturday play.

That’s exactly what happened to NU. With bats rapidly tiring, the Cats weren’t going to be able to put up the 10 or 12 runs they would almost certainly need against the better-rested Golden Gophers. So Ribas and Schara headed back out to the mound to try to stop the bleeding late in the 11-5 loss. Neither pitcher was hit too hard – although Schara gave up three runs – but it was still an unpleasant sight after they pitched so well Wednesday and Thursday.

But thanks to the tournament format, that was the only card Stevens had left to play.