From the Tulsa World:

Sources: Big 12 baseball tournament coming to Tulsa in 2015

By ERIC BAILEY
World Sports Writer on Sep 26, 2013, at 9:02 AM
Updated on 9/26/13 at 9:19 AM

The Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament will move to ONEOK Field in 2015, multiple sources told the Tulsa World.

Details are expected to be announced at a noon press conference held today at ONEOK Field.

Tulsa Sports Commission Senior Vice President Roy Hoyt declined to comment on the subject of the press conference.

A three-year contract with Oklahoma City’s Bricktown Ballpark will conclude following the 2014 season.

The Big 12 has annually held its baseball tournament in Oklahoma City since the league’s birth in 1997. The only exceptions were 2002 and 2004, when it was played in Arlington, Texas.

Oklahoma City also had been the traditional home for the Big Eight Tournament dating back to the 1970s.

Gaining the baseball tournament would be considered a coup for the city. It was an event targeted by the Tulsa Sports Commission and the Tulsa Drillers when ONEOK Field was being constructed in 2010.

“We couldn’t (bid for the Big 12 tournament) until we had this ballpark,” Mike Dodson, former executive director of the Tulsa Sports Commission, said during a 2010 interview. “We now have a ballpark that can match anything out there near a major hotel and entertainment district in downtown Tulsa. Now is the time to go after this.”

This is the second time a bid has been placed by Tulsa, which tried to lure the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Big 12 Tournaments to town.

College baseball is having a revival in the city. Earlier this month, the Drillers announced ONEOK Field would host two of the three-game Big 12 Bedlam games between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in 2014.

Sellout crowds were considered a main reason for Tulsa wresting a third game from Oklahoma City, which had hosted two of three Bedlam games since 1991.

In 2014, Oklahoma City will entertain a May 15 game (Thursday) with ONEOK Field hosting games on May 16 and May 17.

The five-day Big 12 tournament is typically scheduled for mid- to late May. The double-elimination event begins on Wednesday and leads up to a Sunday championship game.

The 2014 championship will be held May 21-25 in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma defeated Kansas 7-2 to capture the 2013 Big 12 championship.

Sources: Big 12 baseball tournament coming to Tulsa in 2015 | Tulsa World