Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma baseball: Sooners have much to gain, much to lose in Bedlam

By Chip Rouse

Jan 2, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; A member of the against the Oklahoma Sooners Ruf/Neks runs the field with flag after a Sooners score against the Auburn Tigers in the fourth quarter of the 2017 Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 2, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; A member of the against the Oklahoma Sooners Ruf/Neks runs the field with flag after a Sooners score against the Auburn Tigers in the fourth quarter of the 2017 Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
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The chances for Oklahoma baseball to grab a second-place regular-season finish in the Big 12 this season have come down to winning three games in two days, a perfect backdrop for Bedlam.

Game one in the weekend series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State was postponed on Thursday because of the severe weather. The two teams were scheduled to play a single game at ONEOK Field in Tulsa on Thursday before moving to Oklahoma City for the final two games in the series.

Now the No. 24 Sooners (34-18, 12-9) and Cowboys will play a doubleheader on Friday and the series finale on Saturday, with all three games taking place at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in OKC.

If the season were to have ended on Thursday, OU would be the three seed in the eight-team Big 12 Championship next week. Oklahoma State would be left out of the championship field, and the Cowboys are clinging to the eighth and final spot in the championship field.

OU was the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 Championship a year ago, with an 11-13 league record. The Sooners are already guaranteed having more conference wins this season with a dozen entering the rivalry series with Oklahoma State.

The Sooners trail second-place Texas Tech by two-and-a-half games. OU could still jump over the Red Raiders if the Sooners were able to sweep all three games against Oklahoma State and Texas Tech lost its final two games in its home series with Kansas this weekend. If the Red Raiders win just of their remaining two regular-season games, the Sooners would still have to pull off a sweep just to move into a second-place tie.

That is on the upside. There is a downside to this weekend’s Bedlam series, as well.

Baylor is just a half-game back of the Sooners and has already beaten last-place Kansas State in the first game of their weekend series. West Virginia is just one game behind Oklahoma in the conference standings.

Depending on the outcome of the OU-OSU series, both Baylor and West Virginia could move past Oklahoma and drop the Sooners down to fifth place in the final regular-season standings.

Bedlam is always a big series, but this season the stakes are even higher because of what the Sooners stand to gain or lose in the process.

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