Kansas baseball notebook: road trip recap, home opener preview

After 11 consecutive games on the road to open the season, Kansas baseball returns for its home opener against St. Thomas on Thursday. Dan Fitzgerald, Jordan Bach, and Boede Rahe met with the media on Wednesday. They discussed the ups and downs of the road trip, the success of the back end of the bullpen, and the excitement to play in front of the home fans for the first time this season.

Kansas shows a lot of good stuff in road trip, but still a lot to improve on

The Jayhawks sit at 7-4 after their first 11 games on the road. Kansas won its series against UTRGV and swept McNeese State, but dropped a midweek to Lamar and split a four-game set with Minnesota. The Jayhawks currently rank 14th in RPI after playing quality competition to open the season.

“Every team that we played has won, which was the whole point of that trip, and very strategic in scheduling all the teams that we played so far,” Fitzgerald said. “So, accomplished a lot, put ourselves in a good position to go into final week before conference opens up, so it’s been good. Lots to improve on, but a lot to like.”

One area where the Jayhawks can improve is producing offensively at a higher clip. Kansas is currently averaging 6.5 runs per game, a shade under last year’s mark of eight. Bach said the issues lie in the little things, such as situational hitting.

The Kansas ace Dominic Voegele will look to get back on track after a pair of rocky outings early in the season. Voegele gave up five runs over three innings in a season-opening loss to UTRGV, then surrendered seven more in 2.2 innings against Minnesota. Fitzgerald said he’s seeking more consistency across innings from his Friday night starter.

“If you took everyone’s first inning and went across the board, Dom’s one of the top pitchers in the country over the past three years in the first inning. Like, it is electric,” Fitzgerald said. “In his great starts… he was able to really maintain that, and on the times when Dom kind of stumbles, it’s because, you know, his stiff will tick down for an inning and then he’ll get it back.”

“I think the message to Dom, and hopefully what we’ll see on Friday night is he just goes pedal down the whole time,” Fitzgerald added.

Back end of the bullpen shaping up well

In the fall, Fitzgerald mentioned after a scrimmage that putting the bullpen pieces in the right spots would be key to the team’s success. So far this season, the back end of the bullpen has been one of the Jayhawks’ strongest features.

Toby Scheidt, Caleb Deer, and Rahe have been the trio most often used in high-leverage situations. They’ve combined to throw 14 innings, allowing just one run while striking out 19. Rahe said that it’s been great to see the group perform at a high level.

“It’s just been awesome to see guys competing and performing to the level that we know we’re capable of,” Rahe said. “There’s some guys who came in with very high potential and very high ceiling rates, I guess. And they’ve been really living up to everything that they, that we knew that they could.”

Kansas has yet to lose a game this season when leading in the seventh inning. Scheidt, Deer, and Rahe specifically all offer different looks. Scheidt’s a sidewinding righty, Deer a power lefty, and Rahe a “super vertical” righty. The Jayhawks have been able to mix and match well to get outs at the end of the game.

“The outs at the end of the game are oftentimes harder to get,” Fitzgerald said. “I think out ability to match up will be the strength of our pitching staff.”

Jayhawks excited to play in front of the home crowd again

Fitzgerald said the home-field advantage at Hoglund Ballpark last season was like one he’d never been a part of before. The energy and excitement will look to continue this season, with Fitzgerald saying there’s nothing like playing at home.

“I think there’s been a buzz already, and we had some students out at practice yesterday. I think they were scouting out seats and where they’re gonna put their sign,” Fitzgerald said. “And I know we’ve got places that are getting ready for their pregame festivities, so it’ll be great. Our guys can’t wait, and I can’t wait either.”

For a lot of the Jayhawks, it’ll be their first opportunity to play in front of the home crowd. The returning Jayhawks have told Bach about how great the home environment is.

“They said it’s electric,” Bach said. “The environment is crazy, you know, the fans get going, and they said it’s the best place to play.”

Kansas’ roster is built with a lot of junior college transfers. Rahe is one, who said he’ll be going from seeing maybe 50 people at a game to an exciting environment. He described himself as someone who feeds off the crowd’s energy.
“I’m an adrenaline junkie,” Rahe said. “If you’ve seen some of the videos from the past few weekends, I’m always feeding off the energy of the crowd. So, we’re gonna need them to get loud this weekend.”