The Kansas Jayhawks are staring down a season that may go down as the program’s most historic ever.
The Jayhawks have already secured a first conference regular-season title for the first time in 77 years, thanks to a series win over the BYU Cougars last weekend. That series win gave the Jayhawks the Big 12 Tournament’s No. 1 seed, meaning Kansas doesn’t even have to pick up a bat until Thursday afternoon and will only need to win three games to win their first conference-tournament title since 2006. Recent projections also tip Kansas to host in this year's upcoming NCAA Tournament.
And to make things better, earlier Tuesday, the Big 12 released its annual honors, where the Jayhawks picked up several nominations, including Coach of the Year, two All-Big 12 First team nominees, and three All-Big 12 Second Team honors.
Coach of the Year: Dan Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald has quickly established himself as one of the nation’s top coaches. From year one, the Jayhawks have continually risen up the ranks of contending teams in the Big 12, going from 25 to 31 to 43 wins and counting. This season, the Jayhawks are 7-5 against ranked opposition and have also managed 22 conference wins; for reference, the season before Fitzgerald’s arrival, the Jayhawks notched 20 wins in total.
When speaking to the media earlier Tuesday, Fitzgerald relayed, “Great players, great staff around me, and incredible support on all fronts here, and I feel so fortunate and blessed to coach these guys, and to have them play the way they played. The Coach of the Year award truly is a team honor; it's a staff award, it's to all the work that my staff has done collectively. So, beyond honored, surreal to have us win it back-to-back, but, yeah, just kind of overwhelming and kind of surreal.”
Who was awarded first-team honors?
Tyson LeBlanc and Boede Rahe were the Big 12’s first team nominations. LeBlanc is currently batting .323, and so far this season has smacked 19 home runs along with 53 RBI. On the defensive side, LeBlance has also added a .940 fielding rate.
Right-handed pitcher Boede Rahe was also selected to the first team, after having pitched 45.1 innings so far this season. Rahe finished the year with a stellar 3.97 ERA, along with nine saves and 40 hits allowed.
Kansas stacks up second-team awards
Infielder Josh Dykhoff, utility Cade Baldridge and starting pitcher Dominic Voegele were each selected to the league’s second team.
Dykhoff’s defensive versatility and .989 fielding rate led the way on his nomination, however his 14 homers show his game-breaking ability. Baldridge leads the team in hits (74) and ranks second in batting average (.318). The Oklahoma native produced a nine-game hitting streak and scored a run in eight straight games from mid to late April.
Voegele finished with a 5-3 overall record, which included a 3-1 mark in conference play. Voegele notched 79 strikeouts in conference play in 61.2 innings with a 5.55 ERA through the Big 12.
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