Want an overwhelming look at just how good this Kansas baseball season has been?
Don’t look at the home runs hit (90), runs scored (426), number of players with 8 or more homers (6) or two separate 9-game winning streaks and the 8-game win streak that opened the season.
Instead, log on to the program’s official site, check the overall record and then pause for a minute.
When you do that, you’ll see that, even after getting swept at home by Cincinnati last weekend, the Jayhawks are still an eye-popping 37-13 on the season and in third place in the Big 12 standings entering the second week of May.
Their 6-5 win at Missouri on Tuesday night, which established a new program record for road wins in a season (17) certainly took some of the sting off of the weekend.
The win total marks the most the program has racked up since winning 39 in 2009 and is just 8 wins shy of the program record with 6 regular season games still to play and whatever postseason opportunities await after that.
The 13 losses include 9 against Big 12 comp and just four beyond that, proof positive that Kansas has in fact won 11 of the 14 series it has played so far this season.
Their current position kind of reminds me of one they were in last month.
Three weeks ago, Dan Fitzgerald’s team suffered a sweep on the road at TCU and, at the time, many wondered if that was the end of the ride.
But the Jayhawks responded by sweeping Kansas State the very next weekend, part of a streak of 9 straight wins that pushed KU back into the land of the ranked.
After a rough weekend against Cincinnati, I can’t help but feel as if the Jayhawks are right back where they were after that TCU series, with a handful of people questioning what comes next.
But don’t worry; these guys aren’t going anywhere. Except to the postseason.
The dream of winning the Big 12 or hosting a regional is likely over now. But this roster doesn’t need either of those things to come true to be driven to win when it counts.
They’ve shown that all season, in both good times and bad. And, truth be told, they’ve turned a lot of those bad times into good ones simply by staying the course, believing in each other and never laying down.
Fitzgerald will tell you that there are just two requirements to play for the Kansas baseball program. The first is you have to be an unbelievable teammate. His exact words. And they scout and recruit to that, making sure they add players to the roster who have a proven past of picking others up.
The second is that you have to play hard all the time. A hard 90 to first base on a ground ball. A diving effort in the outfield or even foul territory to steal an out. Fighting off a couple of punch-out pitches at the plate to keep an at-bat — and often an inning or a game — alive. On and on the list goes.
And it’s that list that’s exactly why these guys are able to move forward without worrying too much about what happened in the past — good or bad.
In his book, “Toughness,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas made famous the next play mentality that former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski used to emphasize with his Blue Devil teams, and it has taken over the sports world.
Almost as much as trusting the process, everyone talks now about moving on to the next play and not letting a bad moment or mistake turn into more.
This KU baseball team has been terrific at doing just that all season, and it’s that mindset and mentality, along with the Jayhawks’ collection of talent, that will make this bunch a contender when the postseason arrives later this month.
The Jayhawks host BYU for a three-game series later this week (Thursday through Saturday) and then will travel to first-place West Virginia to close out the regular season Thursday through Saturday of the following week.
After that, it’s on to the Big 12 tournament in Arlington, Texas, May 21-24 and then the start of NCAA Regionals on May 30.
KU will be there for all of it, and don’t be surprised for a second if they take full advantage of the chance to add to what’s already been a special season.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
