“Our potential is exceptional, there's no reason why, all of us collectively can’t and wouldn’t expect Kansas Baseball to compete for Big 12 Championships, to be a regular postseason contender and do things that have happened here and that we fully believe will happen again with Dan [Fitzgerald] at the helm.” Those are the words of Kansas University Athletic Director Travis Goff at Fitzgerald’s introductory press conference in mid-June 2022.
Since Fitzgerald joined the program, the Jayhawks have undergone one of the school’s most impressive three-year turnarounds.
Fitzgerald walked into a program that had just bottomed out at 20 wins in the 2022 campaign. Those 20 wins were tied for the lowest in the program since 1999.
And now, Kansas baseball is just three wins away from lifting the tournament title for the first time since 2006, when the Jayhawks did it against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a 9-7 win for Ritch Price’s team.
How can the Jayhawks get to their second Big 12 title in history?
Thanks to a stellar 43-17 (20-10) record, the Jayhawks were given the tournament's No. 1 seed, which means Kansas remains fresh until Thursday, the 21st, where they will then play either the No. 8 Baylor Bears, No. 9 BYU Cougars, or No. 12 Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Assuming the Jayhawks win, they will move on to the semifinal against either No. 4 UCF or No. 5 Oklahoma State.
A win against either the Golden Knights or the Cowboys ensures a spot in Fitzgerald’s first Big 12 Championship game.
On the other side of the bracket are the No. 2 West Virginia Mountaineers, No. 3 Arizona State Sun Devils, No. 6 Cincinnati Bearcats, No. 7 TCU Horned Frogs, No. 10 Utah Utes, or No. 11 Kansas State Wildcats.
Kansas’ accelerated rebuild under Fitzgerald is something to marvel at
In Fitzgerald’s first season, the former LSU assistant and recruiting coordinator notched a decent 25-32 record, which included an 8-16 Big 12 record. The Jayhawks then made waves by knocking off the No. 1 seed Texas Longhorns in Fitzgerald’s first Big 12 Tournament game in what was a thrilling 6-3 win that was propelled by a four-run seventh inning.
Last season, saw the Jayhawks continue to improve, mapping out a 31-23 record which was Kansas’ most wins since 2019, and included a 15-15 conference record, the club’s first .500 Big 12 record since 2019. KU finished that season with a quarterfinal appearance in the Big 12 Tournament, in an 8-6 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners.
Kansas has already marked its most wins since 2006 (43), and with three more wins, the Jayhawks will set the program record of wins which currently sits at 45, which was set in 1993 under Dave Bingham.
Fitzgerald’s squad has also already won the most conference games in school history (20), blowing away the previous record (13).
KU will take to the mound May 21st, with first pitch set for 2:30 p.m. CT, and streaming available on ESPNU.
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