KU opens Big 12 baseball championship vs. OSU. Is hosting a regional possible?
Sixteen Division I baseball teams on Monday will be named regional hosts for the upcoming 64-team NCAA tournament.
Kansas, which takes a 42-14 record and No. 21 national ranking (by Baseball America) into Thursday’s Big 12 championship quarterfinal contest against Oklahoma State, has a shot at being one of those hosts.
Game time for the KU-OSU showdown is 4 p.m. at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas (ESPNU and ESPN+).
“Much like UTSA’s Pat Hallmark (who has led his team to a 42-11 record), Kansas coach Dan Fitzgerald has already made a compelling case for having led the best season in program history,” wrote Peter Flaherty and Jacob Rudner of Baseball America.
“Kansas’ sweep of then-No. 19 West Virginia to close the regular season (last weekend) locked in program records for both overall regular-season and conference wins. Built heavily through the transfer portal and junior college ranks, the Jayhawks have ridden their veteran-laden roster to one of the nation’s most explosive offenses and a quietly effective pitching staff. Now firmly on the hosting bubble, Kansas has a real shot at securing a top-16 seed with one or two wins in the Big 12 Tournament—especially if results elsewhere break in its favor.”
The Jayhawks, the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 championship tourney, are currently ranked No. 23 nationally in RPI. KU is 3-4 this season against teams in the Top 25.
With its stellar overall record, Kansas could play host to one of the 16 NCAA regionals.
“I think we’re in a great spot,” third-year KU coach Fitzgerald said. “I think the Big 12 is certainly a conference worthy of having multiple hosts, and I think we have to be in that discussion given the fact of a really solid regular season.
“I do think that there are a bunch of teams that can make that same case, though. I think we’re in the conversation now. I think it would certainly help us to do well here, but I do think we’re a part of that conversation.”
KU placed second to West Virginia during the Big 12 regular season. Though the Jayhawks (20-10 in league play) had one more win than the Mountaineers (19-9 Big 12), WVU was deemed league champion because of its .679 winning percentage to the Jayhawks’ .667 mark.
KU swept a three-game series last weekend at WVU. As a result, the Mountaineers (40-13) fell out of the Top 25, leaving KU as the conference’s only ranked squad.
“I haven’t looked at the rankings today,” Fitzgerald said Monday. “To be really honest, I don’t spend a whole lot of time looking at those. I was proud of what we did there (WVU). I thought anything was possible with how much our guys love playing together and how they compete.
“Looking back that’s a really good West Virginia team that we beat, and to sweep them at their place, that doesn’t happen a whole lot. So yes it was a very proud moment for for our program, for sure.”
West Virginia currently ranks No. 28 in RPI.
Fitzgerald doesn’t want his team to worry about potential NCAA seeds during the Big 12’s single-elimination tournament. The Jayhawks’ quarterfinal foe, No. 7-seed Oklahoma State (28-22, 15-12 Big 12), has won 10 of its last 11 games.
Fitzgerald addressed the situation with his team before heading to Texas this week.
“We could spend time (saying) ‘If this happens and that happens, maybe we can host and we can do this and we can do that,’” he said. “Or we can just stick to what we’ve done the entire year, and that is focus on the day in front of us. That’s probably the right path for our program.”
Fitzgerald was named Big 12 coach of the year Tuesday. He is the first league coach of the year in program history. His Jayhawks are only team in the country with at least 40 overall wins, 20 conference wins and 20 road wins. Kansas finished with more overall wins and conference wins than any team in the Big 12.
Brady Ballinger made the all-Big 12 first team. Jackson Hauge, Cooper Moore and Dariel Osoria all received all-Big 12 second-team honors and Brady Counsell was honorable mention.
Dominic Voegele was named Big 12 pitcher of the week for the third time this season on Monday. Voegele pitched seven shutout innings and struck out six with no walks in a 3-0 win over West Virginia on Friday. He retired the first eight batters of the game.
The Columbia, Illinois, native has worked at least six innings in each of his last four starts and is likely starter Thursday. He ranks second in the Big 12 with 87.0 innings pitched, is tied for third with seven wins and is seventh with 80 strikeouts.
He is tied for the most innings pitched in Big 12 games at 67.1 innings.
“I don’t think anything changes (for the postseason) with this group in particular,” Fitzgerald said. “They’re old. There is some maturity. They love each other. They’re really funny. Their energy is awesome.
“I think it’s more of making sure we have things buttoned up and organized so they know where they need to be and when they need to be there. Then, right before the game, make sure they are in the gates the right way, and then when those gates pop open, let them run.”
If KU wins Thursday the Jayhawks will advance to Friday’s 7:30 p.m. semifinals against either TCU or Houston. NCAA assignments will be issued at 11 a.m. Monday on ESPN2.
