KU baseball hopes for better showing at NCAA regional this season than in 2025
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- Kansas qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2025 for the first time in over a decade.
- KU enters the 2026 regional 42-16 and opens vs. Northeastern at 12 p.m. Friday.
- Dominic Voegele, 5-3 with a 6.01 ERA, is ticketed to start Friday’s opener.
Kansas baseball a year ago qualified for the NCAA Baseball Tournament for the first time in over a decade.
The Jayhawks’ appearance in the 64-team postseason extravaganza was short-lived as KU fell to Creighton 11-4 and North Dakota State 4-3 in the double-elimination regional in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Needless to say, the 2026 Jayhawks, who take a 42-16 record into Friday’s NCAA opener against Northeastern, are hoping for a much longer stay in their own regional which starts with a KU-Northeastern contest at 12 p.m. Friday at Hoglund Ballpark.
“Yes, the experience, I think, does help,” fourth-year KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said in a news conference held Thursday after the Jayhawks’ morning practice at Hoglund Ballpark.
“It’s not a ton of guys returning, but I think going into last year there was certainly a goal of getting there, and I think there was an understood expectation of doing it this year. So I think the expectation of doing this was there, and the guys that were there can certainly speak to the experience. I don’t go in the clubhouse, that’s their space, so I don’t know how much they’ve talked about it,” Fitzgerald added.
Brady Ballinger and Daniel Osoria are everyday players who return from last year’s 43-17 KU team. Veteran pitcher Dominic Voegele, who was the losing pitcher versus Creighton in the 2025 tourney opener, is ticketed to start Friday’s game against Northeastern (38-20).
“I don’t think that’s much of a conversation within our clubhouse,” said KU closer Boede Rahe. “(This is a) brand-new team. When we look at it, we’re looking at what’s to come this weekend. We’re not even talking about what happened last week or the week before that. That’s the past. We’re just focusing on the future and what’s to come.”
“We’re a totally different team and we’re just ready to go this weekend,” noted catcher Augusto (“Augie”) Mungarrieta.
Mungarrieta faces a stern challenge in Friday’s opener against the Huskies of the Coastal Athletic Association. Northeastern leads the country in stolen bases (210 out of 253 attempts).
In comparison, KU as a team has stolen 39 bases in 43 tries. KU’s foes have stolen 59 bases in 74 tries.
Holding the baserunners close to the bag will be the responsibility of starter Voegele, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior from Columbia, Illinois, who has a 5-3 record and 6.01 earned run average.
“He’s got 40 some starts under his belt in the last three years. He’s pitched every weekend of his college career, and the past two months he’s been as good as anyone in the country,” Fitzgerald said.
“It’s a really steady mix. He can throw anything at any count. He’s a great athlete. On days when he’s not pitching, I remind him about once a week that he’s got to have his spikes nearby, because he would be a candidate to go in the game if we ever came down to it, needed another position player. He was a legit hitter and athlete coming out of high school (and) certainly done both. He’s he’s as good as they get, and against a team like Northeastern, you need to show up with your one (No. 1 starter) and compete, so he’s he’s the guy,” Fitzgerald added.
If KU wins Friday’s noon contest, it would take on the winner of Friday’s 5 p.m. battle between Arkansas and Missouri State game at 5 p.m. Saturday. If KU loses to Northeastern, it would meet the loser of Missouri State-Arkansas at noon Saturday.
Fitzgerald said the squad is as ready as can be after Thursday’s practice, which included a visitor in former Philadelphia Phillies manager/KU grad Rob Thomson.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled and excited to host this regional. There’s so many moving parts to this. Our administration has done an incredible job of making Hoglund ready,” Fitzgerald said. “I think of our facilities crew working on this for weeks and really the planning of this is months and months in advance.”
KU has added temporary bleachers and standing room areas to increase attendance from 2,500 to 4,000.
“Just like everything at KU, people have stepped up and done an incredible job. But in terms of the baseball, super proud of the guys. This is something that we fought for and earned, and really just ran to the fire all year, and these guys, they just keep working,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s a great field — four awesome teams. For the three opponents, you could say the best four seed in the tournament (Northeastern), the best three seed (Missouri State) and the best two seed (Arkansas). In terms of the competitive level of this thing, it’s about as awesome as it gets, and a great challenge for us. We couldn’t be more excited.”
