As a head coach, Dan Fitzgerald had to do his job and scout both Oklahoma and Georgia Tech in the Regional Round. Shortly after punching their own ticket to the Super Regional round, the Jayhawks now had to sit and wait to see if they would be packing their bags for Atlanta or staying home to host their first-ever Super Regional.
Fitzgerald kept his coaching hat on as long as he could, until Oklahoma tied the game against Georgia Tech, giving the Sooners a chance to walk it off against the No. 2-seeded Yellow Jackets. Then, the Kansas head coach turned into a fan, hoping and praying the Jayhawks would get the chance to host.
"Honestly, watching that, I stayed pretty just baseball-minded in evaluating, and then a little bit of the fan in me came out when they tied it, where I was like, please walk them off so we could be at home," Fitzgerald said. "So it was it was a fun day, but it was it was pretty much business trying to figure out how we were going to compete against both teams."
"Please walk them off so we can be at home."@KUBaseball head coach Dan Fitzgerald says he was pulling for Oklahoma in Monday's game against Georgia Tech, to secure the Lawrence Super Regional ⬇️
— Amy Acevedo (@amyiacevedo) June 2, 2026
(Video from KU Athletics)@KSNTSports pic.twitter.com/2f6bNln7yz
Fitzgerald got exactly what he wanted with the Sooners winning the Atlanta Regional Championship over Georgia Tech, allowing Kansas to be the Super Regional host. Now, two teams that were once in the Big 12 together will face off yet again, this time with some pretty high stakes on the line.
A home Super Regional is exactly what Kansas needs to punch a ticket to the College World Series
Two wins stand between Kansas and a ticket to the College World Series. Two wins over a former Big 12 foe, who won't be easy to take down. The Oklahoma Sooners proved that even when they are down, they have a chance to fight and claw back for a win, just look at the game against Georgia Tech for proof.
With that win, though, it gave Kansas the ultimate advantage: playing on their home field in front of the home crowd.
Why is this so big for Kansas, you may ask? Well, let's take a look at the home record for the Jayhawks this season. When playing at Hoglund Ballpark, Kansas is 21-5 on the season, with three of those losses coming to West Virginia in the final home series of the regular season, and the other two losses coming against Oklahoma State in April and Sacramento State in March.
The Jayhawks were perfect in the Lawrence Regional in front of sold-out crowds for every game. On the other side, Oklahoma is just 8-11 on the road, giving Kansas the clear advantage here. These teams haven't faced off since 2024, back when the Sooners were still in the Big 12. Oklahoma has won the last four matchups against the Jayhawks, but that was a very different Kansas team.
Now, Kansas stands as the better team on paper, but this is baseball, and all it takes is one bad day to ruin the Jayhawks' chance at making it to the College World Series for the first time since 1993.
Kansas and Oklahoma will play the first game in a best-of-three series starting Saturday, June 6, with first pitch at 5:00 p.m. CT, airing on ESPN2.
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