photo by: Carter Gaskins/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas pitcher Reese Dutton (31) winds up to throw a pitch against Texas Southern Friday, March 1, 2024, at Hoglund Ballpark.

After getting swept by TCU last season, including 18-5 and 14-0 losses in late March, the Kansas baseball team found revenge this year behind a new core of pitchers, winning its weekend series over the No. 3 Horned Frogs by taking two out of three games.

Kansas was powered by its Friday and Saturday night starters, as Reese Dutton began the series with an emphatic seven-inning, one-run outing in which he struck out eight and allowed only four hits. Gavin Brasosky followed him up with a quality start the next afternoon, going five innings and allowing two runs to one of the country’s top offenses. The Jayhawks’ victory over a real national competitor also came as TCU’s first loss of the year. The Horned Frogs entered their Big 12 Conference opener with a 13-0 record.

“Especially in the Big 12, it’s just such an awesome conference that if you do finish near the top, you put yourself in a great position for the postseason,” head coach Dan Fitzgerald said.

While both teams struggled to drive in runs under the Friday night lights, the Jayhawks were still able to pick up the 3-1 victory on the back of a go-ahead two-run homer by Chase Diggins in the fifth inning to put Kansas up 2-1, and it never looked back.

Saturday’s late afternoon slate provided some more consistent offense, as the Jayhawks battled back from an early deficit to handily take game two. After Brasosky found his team down 2-1 due to another two-run shot by TCU’s Sam Myers in the fourth inning, the Jayhawks responded in the fifth. Setting the stage with two triples, Kansas was able to tie it up before a two-out double to the gap from Kodey Shojinaga got it the lead back.

The Jayhawks kept their foot on the gas in the next inning, as Janson Reeder and Michael Brooks hit home runs back-to-back and Mike Koszewski delivered an RBI single after a pitching change to give them a 6-2 lead after six. Kansas wasn’t done there, though, as Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week Lenny Ashby slammed his fifth home run of the season far over the wall to cement a strong 8-3 advantage. The Jayhawks went on to win 8-4 with Hunter Cranton pitching a clean ninth inning and also hitting 100 mph for the first time in his career to clinch a Kansas series win.

After two rather dominant wins, the Jayhawks got off to a good start in the Sunday finale, putting up four runs in the bottom of the first before TCU fought back to take a 5-4 lead in the sixth. Kansas kept it close through the next few innings, before a disastrous ninth inning led to a 13-4 Horned Frogs victory.

“(I have) mixed feelings. Fired up about the series win, and really fired up with how we competed today for the most part,” said head coach Dan Fitzgerald following the finale. “We had to stretch a couple of guys in the middle … and ran into some trouble there.”

After struggling to find consistent starting pitching last season, the Jayhawks have seemingly found their Friday night ace in Dutton, and built around their threats at the plate with additions like Ashby and John Nett.

In Fitzgerald’s first season with Kansas, the Jayhawks went 25-32, posting an 8-16 conference record. This year, on the back of the number one junior college recruiting class in the country, they are already off to a 9-5 start with a series win to open Big 12 play, which shows the improvement Fitzgerald has already brought to a relatively inexperienced team.

“That’s one of the premier programs in the country, and I think to see us in a spot where we’re toe-to-toe with them for a weekend, I’m certainly not surprised by it,” he said. “That was my expectation last year too, but now we’ve just got the horses to do it.”

As for what a series win like this means for this season overall, Fitzgerald is unsure, choosing to focus instead on what’s immediately next for the Jayhawks.

“I don’t think about much past what we do tonight and tomorrow to recover,” he said. “But the formula for college baseball is pretty simple, you take care of business in the midweeks and finish high in your conference.”

These initial results have been powered by what Fitzgerald described as an all-around preparation process that has put them in a good place to win in the majority of their games.

“I feel great about it as long as we continue to do it,” he said. “Usually, if your process is good, the execution is good.”

Next, Kansas will take on rival Missouri in a midweek Border Showdown as a precursor to the March 19 showdown at Kauffman Stadium. The Jayhawks will host the Tigers Tuesday for the first time since 2021, when Kansas used an eight-run seventh-inning comeback to earn a victory. The game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ at 6 p.m.