Fitzgerald: Nothing changes for Kansas baseball with top 25 nod
Kansas appeared in the top 25 this week at 18, its first ranking of the 2026 season. On Tuesday, the Jayhawks pushed their win streak to 11 with a 5-2 win over Wichita State. It’s the longest win streak in 32 years for Kansas baseball.
Yet, Dan Fitzgerald emphasized to his team that the ranking doesn’t change anything. The Jayhawks should be excited about being ranked, but it also shouldn’t change the way they go about things.
“I told them the other day that, you know, on Monday, I said ‘What’s the difference between us last night and today?’ And the idea was nothing, you know,” Fitzgerald said on Wednesday. “I think that mature teams can look at a ranking and have an excitement about it and a confidence about it, and appreciate how far we’ve come without teetering into ‘we’re ranked, now we’ve got life figured out.’”
Over the course of the season, Fitzgerald has praised his team’s love for the moment. Now, he wants them to enjoy things like the win streak and ranking, but recognize there’s still a lot of work to be done.
“I’ve said this from August with these guys that no one’s going to enjoy it more than us,” Fitzgerald said. “So that means you enjoy things like this and you celebrate it, but you celebrate it at the level that it needs to be celebrated. We are a long way from the finish line.”
Winning the strike zone has led Kansas to pitching success
Dating back to the win over Nebraska on April 7th, Kansas is allowing 2.4 runs per game. That mark is far under the season average of nearly six runs allowed per game. Right-hander Mason Cook pointed to the Jayhawks’ aggressiveness on the mound as a strong contributing factor.
“There’s definitely adjustments made. It’s just be more aggressive,” Cook said. “Just win the strike zone. Fitz always talks about that, just winning the strike zone, and it’s a big deal.”
The Kansas pitchers have done a better job getting ahead early, and the Jayhawks have also done a good job putting hitters away. Kansas has lived to an aggressive pitching mindset, and it’s paid off over the last five games.
“Super aggressive in the zone. They’ve done a fantastic job with two strikes,” Fitzgerald said. “They’ve done a great job of getting to two strikes, but then a really good job of putting people away with two strikes.
Kansas has also possibly cemented its weekend rotation after a lot of workshopping throughout the season. Mathis Nayral, Dominic Voegele, and Cook all had strong starts in the sweep of UCF. Fitzgerald said he feels confident in the current pitching equation.
“So I feel super confident with those three,” Fitzgerald said. “I also think going into a weekend with naming two [Nayral and Voegele] and seeing what happens with the third guy. You know, if we need [Cook] on Friday night, we’ve gotta use him on a Friday night. But I feel incredibly confident with those three.”
