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

Kansas senior Michael Brooks fields a ground ball against Cincinnati at Hoglund Ballpark Saturday, May 3, 2025.

The Kansas baseball team will host BYU in a Thursday-to-Saturday series this weekend, as the Jayhawks look to set a new program record for conference wins when they take on the visiting Cougars.

Last week, for the second time this season, KU baseball found its way into the national rankings, only to get swept the weekend after and promptly fall out of the top 25. After a rough weekend at Hoglund Ballpark — in which the Jayhawks were swept by the previously 10-11 in Big 12 Conference play Cincinnati Bearcats, as Kansas gave up 38 runs across three games while sending out 13 different pitchers — KU bounced back with a 6-5 win against Missouri on the road on Tuesday to set itself up for the final home series of the season.

“Especially with it being against (Missouri), you know, we just obviously didn’t have our best weekend last weekend, but coming out there and just competing and winning in comeback fashion, it was pretty awesome,” redshirt senior Michael Brooks said.

The Jayhawks were able to pull out the win and, maybe more importantly, limit the usage of most pitchers, with only Alex Breckheimer and Eric Lin throwing more than one inning in the Border Showdown.

“The great part is we didn’t overuse anyone yesterday,” head coach Dan Fitzgerald said. “I think 34 was the highest pitch count, and all of those guys could pitch today if we played. So they’ll all be available.”

That will be especially important for Breckheimer and Lin, as the Jayhawks have relied on them heavily in the back end of the bullpen, and they were able to bounce back on Tuesday after a rough weekend of appearances.

“I think that gave them all the confidence in the world right there, and they should always have that confidence,” Brooks said of the bullpen. “But, you know, just going out there and just competing and believing in themselves, I think that’s really going to help us.”

With the usual weekend series shifting up a day since BYU doesn’t play on Sundays, Fitzgerald feels confident that his starting pitchers, a very routine-oriented position, will be well-equipped to handle the change.

“We’re fortunate that we’ve got two really good athletes in our one and two spots, so bumping them up a day is not a big deal,” he said. “They’ll be ready to go… The biggest change is that you play night game, night game, day game.”

Fitzgerald said it’s the perfect time for the Jayhawks to have this scheduled series since all series next weekend will be pushed up a day as well for the final weekend of Big 12 play, as the championship starts on May 21.

After a tough Cincinnati series on both sides of the ball, Kansas hopes its usually powerful offense can bounce back against a BYU team that sits in last place in the Big 12 in team ERA, with a 7.36 mark that is nearly a run higher than the next team’s (Texas Tech, 6.43).

“We really look out for each other here on this team, and we know what we’re capable of doing and just give each other all the confidence in the world,” Brooks said. “We just focus on every game that’s right in front of us.”

With a winnable series in front of them, the Jayhawks will rely on their usually solid weekend starting pitchers to back up an offense that gave a good amount of run support in the series sweep last week.

“Last night, we had to piece it together with the pen, and they did a great job,” Fitzgerald said on Wednesday. “But part of it was just getting to Thursday and Friday, where we know we’ve got Dom (Voegele) and Coop (Moore) coming up to lengthen out those games, and then we could use the bullpen accordingly.”

While Moore had a rocky start last weekend and only pitched 5 1/3 innings, Voegele gave a relatively good performance by going 7 1/3 innings in a Friday pitchers’ duel, but hopes for more this weekend. Both pitchers have reached career highs in innings and are averaging more than six innings per start, which has been important for a Kansas team that has a good amount of bullpen arms but has not reliably gotten steady performances from that group.

Throughout the year, the Jayhawks have made their resilience known, setting a program record with 17 wins on the road and tying the mark for the most wins in conference play, and Fitzgerald trusts in his team to lean on these pillars now more than ever as they enter the final stretch of the regular season.

“They’re really tough,” Fitzgerald said. “And you know, that was very identifiable in the fall… We talk about mental toughness and doing the thing you’re supposed to do every single time you’re supposed to do it, and it takes a lot of grit to be able to do that in August, September, October, November when you don’t play until February.”

That mental toughness and consistency will be on full display this weekend, starting when Voegele takes the mound on Thursday to welcome the Cougars into town with a 6 p.m. first pitch.