Sooners, Cowboys rained out
Bedlam baseball between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State on Thursday in Tulsa was called off due to rain. The Sooners and Cowboys are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Friday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Game times are 3 and 7:05 p.m.
Oklahoma State, at 24-25 overall and 6-14 in the Big 12, clearly faces stacked odds against any quest to make the NCAA Tournament.
Still, the Cowboys at least want to take their shot.
That first requires advancing to next week’s Big 12 Tournament, where they would have then need a run to the championship.
Might Kansas State — and weather — conspire against them?
Entering Thursday’s scheduled opener of the Bedlam series at ONEOK Field in Tulsa, OSU held a slim half-game lead over K-State for the final berth in next week’s Big 12 Tournament. While the Wildcats engaged in a slugfest in Game 1 of their series at Baylor, the Cowboys hoped and waited for the threat of weather to pass through Tulsa.
Instead, the threat became real, resulting in an official postponement at 8:50 p.m., amid constant lightning and a downpour that quickly formed huge pools of water on the field.
With the potential for severe weather likely Friday in Oklahoma City, completing all three Bedlam games seems in doubt. The plan is for a doubleheader at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark Friday, with games scheduled at 3 and 7:05 p.m. Saturday’s finale remains scheduled at 7:05 p.m.
The series must be completed by Saturday, per league rules, which require a three-day window of play.
To control their own destiny, the Cowboys need and want to play.
Despite the rough run this season, OSU players maintain they’ve remained committed to pushing on.
“Throughout the year, we’ve done a good job of staying positive, staying upbeat and not letting these setbacks mess with our work ethic or the things we’re doing in practice,” said junior outfielder Garrett McCain. “We’re growing as a team. We’re young.
“Through the things we’ve faced, it’s going to come back and pay dividends in the end. Hopefully, we can see that those dividends pay off this weekend and continue through the Big 12 Tournament and whatever rest of the journey that’s ahead of us.”
Weather — and Kansas State — willing.
Rain could impact the series in Waco, Texas, as well.
Should the Cowboys and Wildcats finished tied, OSU holds the tiebreaker, having taken the series with K-State 2-1. It was the Cowboy’s lone Big 12 series win of the season.
Projections: Sooners to host in postseason
With the Bedlam series and the Big 12 Tournament still to be played, Oklahoma is in a position to host in the postseason.
Both major outlets that cover college baseball — Baseball America and D1Baseball.com — have the Sooners as hosts in their latest projections released earlier this week.
Baseball America has the Sooners in a regional with Cal State Fullerton as the No. 2 seed, Indiana the No. 3 and Oral Roberts as the No. 4.
D1Baseball has the Sooners with Nebraska as the No. 2, McNeese State No. 3 and ORU No. 4.
The Sooners haven’t played in a regional since the 2013 season — when they won the Virginia Tech Regional before falling at LSU. They haven’t hosted since 2010, when they made a run to the College World Series.
Morgantown trip turns Sooners’ season
While the team meeting that took place after Oklahoma’s April 22 loss to Kansas — its seventh consecutive defeat at the time — was credited plenty with turning around the Sooners’ season, the on-field turning point came a week later in Morgantown, W.Va.
Entering that, Oklahoma’s chances at even making the postseason were starting to get slim, and nothing seemed to be working despite a promising start.
But then the Sooners won two of three against a West Virginia team that had been playing well and had put itself in a position to host.
“That was it,” OU coach Pete Hughes said. “I talked to them before the game in the hotel and I said: ‘This is it. The clock’s ticking. I’ve been nice through this whole thing with you, and I’ve massaged it, and we’ve talked about the injuries and keep your head up and we’re going to be better because of it.’
"And then I said: ‘Well, it’s done. This is it. We’re healthy now. We don’t have that as an excuse. We’re healthy. So we’ve got to go out and start beating people.'”
Since the pre-series talk, the Sooners had won six of nine heading into the weekend’s Bedlam series.