photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas pitcher Boede Rahe celebrates during a game against Arkansas on Saturday, May 30, 2026, in Lawrence.

Even before Kansas kicked off the first-ever Lawrence Regional, pitcher Boede Rahe promised that KU was going to play the exact same way it had all season — which would in turn mean that Rahe himself would bring the same level of fire to his closer role.

Through two days of the regional, Rahe’s emotions have indeed been on display, in large part because KU’s offense has set him up for a pair of six-out save situations in which he has proven quite successful: one in Friday’s 6-3 victory over Northeastern and another in Saturday’s 5-3 win over Arkansas.

He just might have set off the fire a little early on Saturday, raising his arms to the sky with a fist pump and a point to the KU crowd after Tyson LeBlanc’s throw beat Maika Niu to first base. That would have been fine, except that Arkansas challenged the ruling that Niu was out, making for an awkward lull

The call was confirmed in short order anyway, though, and he got to celebrate a second time.

“I think I got a little bit of my excitement out when the first call went through, and I had to maintain my composure and hold it for a little bit, but I was pretty confident that Tyson’s arm got him out,” Rahe said.

He said he didn’t bother throwing any warmup pitches while waiting, such was his level of confidence in the result of the review.

In any case, Rahe’s four scoreless, hitless innings are one of the big reasons why KU now finds itself on the brink of emerging from Lawrence with a first-ever trip to the super regional round. He worked around a rare walk and wild pitch that brought one Razorback runner to second base in the eighth, then retired three straight in the ninth. And he accomplished that while throwing a combined 68 pitches over the course of back-to-back days.

That’s nothing new for the redshirt junior from Marion, Iowa, and Kirkwood Community College, who threw on consecutive days this year in series against UCF, Kansas State, Arizona, West Virginia and BYU. Only once, however, did he exceed 68 pitches, when he did literally one better with 69 across his three-inning and a one-inning appearance versus UCF in April 10 and 11.

All the while, he has excelled. The first-team all-conference selection has struck out 71 batters while issuing just 17 walks this year, and his ERA is down to 3.67. He’s put up zeroes in nine of his last 11 appearances with a handful of saves along the way. KU even tried him out as a starter earlier in the year for a couple weeks in the wake of one stretched-out relief appearance before ultimately deeming him more valuable out of the pen.

“I wouldn’t even call myself a starter or a reliever,” Rahe said. “I just go out there and get the three outs in front of me. That’s my role every single time I go out there.”

Head coach Dan Fitzgerald has frequently said that Rahe tells him on a daily basis that he’s ready to pitch.

“I think just with it being postseason baseball,” Rahe said on Satuday, “I should want to pitch in every single game that comes about.”

Could “every single game” include Friday’s action, with a trip to the regional final at stake? Rahe has never pitched on three straight days at KU or at Kirkwood (where he started as a sophomore), and Fitzgerald never threw Alex Breckheimer or Hunter Cranton more than two days in a row in recent seasons. Chances are that with relievers like Kannon Carr, Toby Scheidt and Manning West available for Sunday, Rahe might not be on the docket to follow probable starter Mathis Nayral in a rematch with Arkansas or Northeastern.

But it’s tough to rule it out completely with the body of work he’s established.