photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas graduate student Jackson Hauge yells out after hitting a game-tying home run in the fifth inning against Nebraska at Hoglund Ballpark Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

With the Kansas baseball team sitting one game back of Kansas State in the Big 12 standings, this weekend’s Sunflower Showdown is the biggest rivalry meeting in years for a Jayhawk team with its best record in a decade.

After being swept by TCU in Fort Worth last weekend, the Jayhawks dropped out of both Baseball America and D1Baseball’s top-25 rankings, but bounced back with an 18-12 midweek win over Wichita State to kick off the in-state rivalry week.

Kansas lost all four of its games last week, three to TCU and a midweek matchup against Nebraska, breaking a nine-game win streak. But head coach Dan Fitzgerald emphasized that he thought the team stayed with its plan in all games besides a lopsided 14-1 loss on Friday.

“I thought we abandoned the plan a little bit on Friday night, thought Saturday and Sunday were better, but last night we looked like us,” he said of Tuesday’s offensive showdown with the Shockers. “I was proud of the bounce-back, and then not just the bounce-back in terms of the win, but to go down early and rebound like that offensively was great.”

While Brady Ballinger exited last Saturday’s game early and didn’t play in the Sunday series finale or the Wichita State game, Fitzgerald said on Wednesday he was “good to go,” adding that he never would have come out of Saturday’s game if they were at a different point in the season.

Kansas will need Ballinger, who is second on the team with 102 total bases, to compete against a powerful Kansas State offense that has the second-most home runs in the Big 12 (63), with only the Jayhawks having hit more (78). Ballinger has 12 of those home runs and leads Kansas’ qualified players with a .387 batting average.

Although the Wildcats were able to jump Kansas in the Big 12 standings after its 0-4 week, they’ve lost their last two games, both out-of-conference matches against Northeastern on a long trip to Boston.

“Every weekend in the Big 12 is tough, everyone’s good … No one sneaks up on anyone, they know who we are, and we know who they are,” Fitzgerald said. “(The rivalry), you know, it’s certainly good for baseball in the state of Kansas. And having rivalries, that’s a really important thing in college sports. So I think our guys are excited — obviously, the crowds here have been incredible, and we’re looking forward to a really fun weekend.”

A key point in their preparation for a big series has been a focus on each individual play and at-bat.

“Guys are used to the cycle of going 0-for-4… and then they go five for their next 12. They’re used to that cycle,” Fitzgerald said. “And so I think part of coaching baseball is getting them out of that cycle, into a, how do you measure the quality of the at-bat? How do you measure the quality of the pitch? How do you measure the quality of your preparation so that you’re not living and dying with (the outcome)?”

The Jayhawks have succeeded this season by extending plate appearances and in turn forcing starters out early, but this weekend they’ll have to lean more on their pitching than they have in their last few home series. Kansas has established a rotation of Dominic Voegele, Kannon Carr and Cooper Moore for its weekend slate and has found success with all three of them throughout the season, although Voegele gave up 10 earned runs in five innings pitched against TCU last Friday. The good news for Kansas is that he’s only allowed two earned runs in his two home starts against Big 12 opponents.

But the entire rotation will have a tough task ahead this weekend, specifically when it comes to Kansas State’s power-hitting Maximus Martin, a junior infielder who transferred from Georgia State.

“He’s really good, and they’ve got a bunch of pieces around him that are really good,” Fitzgerald said. “With the elite hitters of the Big 12 and across the country, there’s a completeness to their to their game, where, you know, they can handle ride, they can handle sink, they’re good with the breaking stuff, and it comes down to do you make the right pitches at the right time with the right defense on the field?”

Kansas will have another factor in its corner too, though, as it plays in front of a Hoglund Ballpark crowd that has set attendance records and made the rounds on social media for the entire season.

“It’s been awesome all year. I could tell 20 stories from games this year of stuff that I’ve never really seen at a baseball game,” Fitzgerald said. “I think it’s a lot of things. It’s excitement for how our guys have played, how they compete, the fact that we’ve won some games. And then, you know, that it’s a great venue. It’s really fun, (the students) all crammed in right above our dugout.”

This weekend the Jayhawks will play in front of a packed crowd, as seating has been sold out for weeks and standing-room-only tickets were made available for purchase to accommodate more fans. Voegele and the Jayhawks will open up Kansas’ biggest series of the season thus far at 6 p.m. on Friday with the fan support to match the gravity of the moment.