Bedlam Rivalry Still One Of Baseball’s Best

TULSA, Okla.—Oklahoma State first baseman Mason O’Brien swatted the Oklahoma batter’s behind with his glove after an inning-ending groundout during a 2015 game.

Two decades earlier, such a gesture could have lit the fuse for a bench-clearing brawl between the Bedlam schools. It didn’t happen on this day because it was a literal sign of brotherly love between the in-state rivals.

Oklahoma’s Austin O’Brien smiled when retelling the story about how his younger brother tagged him. They aren’t the only set of brothers on opposing teams, as pitchers Jake Elliott (OU) and Jensen Elliott (OSU) also produce a house divided.

Family and friendship ties on the rosters make this a kindler, gentler rivalry that features teams expected to challenge for this spring’s Big 12 Conference championship.

But years ago, the temperature of this series used to be blood-boiling hot.

A simple YouTube search will show one of college baseball’s biggest on-field fights. A 1989 meeting produced 14 ejections—six players and an assistant coach from each team—during a sixth-inning brawl that caused a 33-minute delay.

“There was a stretch when you were just waiting for it,” said Rex Holt, Oklahoma State’s radio announcer for the past 33 years. “It was like lighting a fuse and something would happen that would trigger the whole thing.”

The 1989 fireworks started following a hard collision at the plate involving Oklahoma baserunner Paul Oster. The teams came on the field but nothing happened. The very next pitch, Oklahoma State’s Carl Myers hit John Douglas, which ignited fights all over Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

“Some of the stuff that went on previously wasn’t good and it’s not what college sports is about, but it did happen,” said Oklahoma State coach Josh Holliday, who grew up in Stillwater and played for the Cowboys from 1996-99.

“There were numerous fights. None of which anyone would say is good, but the whole five-games-in-six-days of Big Eight, where you played the three weekend games and then the two mid-week games—that was a lot of emotion packed into a short window of time and sometimes it didn’t allow the time for things to cool off.”

It is a different era. There are no longer heated battles between the players. Familiarity between the teams has mellowed Bedlam.

“There’s nothing like a rivalry and I think Josh and I have it right now,” Oklahoma coach Pete Hughes said. “It’s a rivalry that’s respectful and both coaching staffs respect each other. Both rosters respect each other. It’s not like the old days where, when you go to Bedlam, it will be a bench-clearer. That’s not baseball. We want to beat each other’s brains in, believe me, but we want to do it with respect to the game and the rivalries.”

Oklahoma State enters the season ranked No. 9 and is eyeing a trip to the College World Series for the first time in 17 seasons. The Cowboys return senior shortstop Donnie Walton, the son of pitching coach Rob Walton, giving the lineup a cornerstone. Lefthander Garrett Williams is the team’s top prospect, but will have to prove he can consistently throw strikes after struggling with his command in the first two years of his college career.

Oklahoma begins the year at No. 21, even as it retools after a nation’s-best 11 players were drafted last summer. The Sooners will be led by hard-throwing righthander Alec Hansen, a first-team Preseason All-American who could be one of the top picks in this year’s draft. Shortstop/righthander Sheldon Neuse also was voted a Preseason All-American by scouting directors as one of the best two-way players in the country.

Bedlam is guaranteed four times this season. The Cowboys will play at Oklahoma on April 19, and the official conference series will be featured in Oklahoma City’s Bricktown Ballpark (May 13) and Tulsa’s ONEOK Field (May 14 and 15). The Tulsa games are normally sellouts, and Oklahoma City also draws huge crowds, giving the teams a great atmosphere.

Oklahoma State lefthander Alex Hackerott, from Sand Springs, Okla., used to attend the Bedlam games religiously as a child.

“We never picked a side, we just went to whichever side the tickets were on,” Hackerott said. “Growing up and going to those games felt like a big league game. It felt like the same atmosphere. I specifically remember years when it would be a home run fest. While that was exciting, nothing compares to playing on the field. While it’s the same atmosphere, you get more excited because you are part of it.”

Bedlam turns 71 years old this season. The all-time series was dominated early by Oklahoma before OSU took over during the early 1980s. Currently, the Cowboys lead the series 120-112.

“It’s a great series, any way you look at it. I’ve coached in other rivalry series, whether it was Arizona-Arizona State, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt-Tennessee, and they are nothing like it,” Holliday said. “Those are great experiences, but they aren’t played in front of 12,000 in different venues in the state of Oklahoma like this.

“This is something that, for three days, our kids get to be in the center of the Oklahoma sports beat. And that’s cool. For college baseball, that’s our time.”

Eric Bailey covers college sports for the Tulsa World