photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas infielders Dylan Schlotterback, Tyson LeBlanc, Cade Baldridge, and Josh Dykhoff (left to right) watch their pitcher warm up during the Jayhawks' game against West Virginia on Sunday, May 10, 2026, at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.

The public discourse around Kansas baseball changed quite a bit in the span of a few days.

In the wake of a three-game sweep by West Virginia at Hoglund Ballpark, KU moved in postseason projections from contending for a top-eight seed and a potential super-regional host spot to, depending on where you look, either clinging to one of the final top 16 seeds (No. 15 at D1Baseball) or traveling to someone else’s regional entirely (No. 19 at Baseball America, headed to Oregon State).

The Jayhawks also saw their four-game lead in the Big 12, as they look for their first conference title since 1949, shrink to one. They control their own destiny entering Thursday night’s series opener at BYU, but WVU (vs. TCU), Arizona State (at Houston) and UCF (vs. Kansas State) are all still in the picture to claim at least a share of the crown.

“Our goal was never ‘We’re going to win X amount of games or win the Big 12 by X amount of games,'” head coach Dan Fitzgerald said. “It was always just ‘We want to play our baseball at the end of the season, and I mean the end of the season, not the end of the regular season — I’m talking as late as we can possibly play, we want to be playing our best baseball.

“I think every coach in the country would take (a) one-game lead with three to play in their respective league. I mean, it’s the exact spot you want to be at.”

KU finds itself in this spot after a dire week. Before the WVU series came a walk-off extra-innings midweek loss at Creighton. Then the Mountaineers contained the vaunted KU lineup, allowing just five runs in three games. On Friday and Saturday, the Jayhawks’ pitching did enough to give them a chance, but the batters couldn’t deliver the clutch hits that had become so commonplace during the prior 10-game winning streak. Those two games turned into 4-1 and 5-2 losses, and then KU got run-ruled 13-2 in eight innings on Sunday.

Fitzgerald credited WVU’s pitching, but also suggested that KU’s hitters were trying to do too much at the plate while playing from behind.

“I thought we got away from the approach a little bit and some guys fell into some bad habits that they hadn’t fallen into in a long time,” he said.

By all accounts the Jayhawks succeeded in returning to normal in the aftermath of their poor weekend, first on Monday’s off day and then at Tuesday’s practice. Fitzgerald said you’d have no idea whether they had won or lost last weekend by watching the practice.

“Losing always really highlights immaturity within your team,” he said. “And I don’t mean immaturity in a bad way like ‘That guy’s immature,’ I just mean immature baseball, and so I think it gave us a great opportunity to address some stuff, and fully addressed it over the last few days and put it into action today.”

Added pitcher Boede Rahe, KU’s closer: “Everybody has the will and mental capacity to get over what happened this weekend and look forward to what we have coming up ahead.”

The Cougars await at Miller Park in Provo, Utah, a place where the Jayhawks swept a three-game series in 2024 before BYU gave them a test in Lawrence in 2025 (KU claimed that series on a walk-off winner by Mike Koszewski).

It’s a short week ahead of Thursday’s opener: “This is the one I don’t worry about because the arms are so conditioned by this time of year,” Fitzgerald said. “But yeah, I think it very much helps us just because the guys want to get out and play again.”

After being picked 13th in the preseason poll, BYU has hung around the middle of the pack this season and sits at 26-25 overall and 13-14 in league play, aiming to ensure that it earns a bye in the conference tournament by holding onto eighth place in the Big 12 standings.

The Cougars have not enjoyed much of a home-field advantage at Miller Park, where they are 8-11, even with series wins over Cincinnati and Oklahoma State. Most recently in Big 12 play, they dropped two of three at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park to 12th-place Texas Tech. BYU lost a 2-1 pitchers’ duel on Thursday, piled on the runs with three-hit games for third baseman Easton Jones and first baseman Ezra McNaughton in a 12-3 win on Friday and then dropped a 15-11 shootout with seven combined home runs on Saturday.

For a below-average offensive team in the Big 12, McNaughton has been the most consistent presence with his team-best batting average (.348), OPS (1.047) and home-run and RBI totals (15, 51). Left fielder Crew McChesney has added some firepower despite missing time due to injury, and the third baseman Jones and shortstop Ryder Robinson rank among the other top contributors.

Lefty reliever Ashton Johnson, who stymied KU in one four-inning appearance last year in Lawrence before taking the loss in the walk-off, has turned in another quality season, but JUCO righty Dan Brousseau has been perhaps BYU’s top pitcher overall with a team-high ERA (3.00) and appearance total (22 for just 27 total innings). The Cougars’ starting pitching has been a bit inconsistent; lefty Wayland Crane, a Utah Valley transfer, is the headliner with 13 starts this year and a 5.40 ERA.

First pitch in a likely matchup between Crane and KU’s Dominic Voegele is set for 7 p.m. Central time on Thursday.

photo by: AP Photo/Tyler Tate

BYU infielder Easton Jones at bat during an NCAA baseball game against California Baptist, on Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Provo, Utah.

photo by: AP Photo/Tyler Tate

BYU infielder Ezra McNaughton runs to first base during an NCAA baseball game against California Baptist, on Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Provo, Utah.