It’s home sweet home as KU Jayhawks picked to play host to NCAA baseball regional
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas will host an NCAA regional at Hoglund Ballpark for the first time.
- The Jayhawks (42-16) were named one of 16 regional hosts after winning both Big 12 titles.
- Kansas has qualified for the NCAA tournament for the seventh time in school history.
The Kansas Jayhawks baseball team will play host to NCAA Tournament games at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence for the first time in school history.
The Jayhawks — the Big 12 regular-season and postseason-tourney champions at 42-16 — on Sunday were selected as one of 16 regional hosts for the upcoming NCAAs, which begin on campus sites Friday.
The full bracket, including specific matchups for the Friday-through-Monday games, will be revealed on the NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 11 a.m. Central Time on Monday (TV: ESPN2). The teams that will join KU in the Lawrence regional were not revealed Sunday.
West Virginia, the team that finished second to KU in the regular-season standings and fell to the Jayhawks 9-0 in Saturday’s Big 12 title game in Surprise, Arizona, also will host a regional.
The regionals, as listed by the NCAA in alphabetical order, will be in: Athens (Georgia), Atlanta, Auburn, Austin (Texas), Chapel Hill (North Carolina), College Station (Texas), Eugene (Oregon), Gainesville (Florida), Hattiesburg (Mississippi), Lawrence, Lincoln (Nebraska), Los Angeles, Morgantown (West Virginia), Starkville (Mississippi), Tallahassee (Florida) and Tuscaloosa (Alabama).
Hoglund drew an overflow KU-record crowd of 2,674 fans for a game against Nebraska this season. The Jayhawks are making plans to add additional general admission seats this week. The left-field wall has been temporarily removed, with a see-through fence installed for the NCAA tourney.
KU athletic director Travis Goff said in an X video: “I’m so excited for Lawrence, the state, the region. We’re coming back. We’re hosting next week. Let’s go. Rock Chalk.”
KU has qualified for the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship for the seventh time in school history (1993, 1994, 2006, 2009, 2014, 2025, 2026). It’s the first time KU has made the tourney in back-to-back seasons since 1993 and 1994.
The Jayhawks have reached the College World Series once, in 1993. KU that season went 45-18, won the Mideast Regional, and reached the CWS in Omaha, finishing seventh (0-2 in the CWS).
KU defeated Baylor 8-7 in eight innings in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal game Thursday, followed by a 9-2 win over Oklahoma State in the semifinals on Friday and a 9-0 shutout of WVU in the league-tourney’s title game.
KU became the fourth team to win both the Big 12 regular-season and tourney titles in the same year. The others: Nebraska (2001), Texas (2002) and TCU (2021).
KU had five players named to the all-tourney team, including most outstanding player Tyson LeBlanc. Other KU all-tourney selections: Augusto Mungarrieta, Savion Flowers, Dominic Voegele and Cade Baldridge.
The five selections are most for KU in a Big 12 tourney. LeBlanc is KU’s second most outstanding player. Matt Baty won in 2006, the only other year KU has won the event.
