The Road to Omaha begins in Fayetteville, Arkansas

There was something poetic about the Kansas baseball team being, literally, the last team called when the 2025 NCAA tournament bracket was released on Monday.

In a room full of supporters, new and old, Dan Fitzgerald’s Jayhawks knew they didn’t have anything to sweat. But the longer things like that go, the more the nerves start to build.

So, there they were, after watching 15 other regional sites get announced ahead of them, awaiting the official word that they were in.

It came roughly 33 minutes into ESPN’s selection show, when the Jayhawks were penciled in as the No. 2 seed at the 4-team Arkansas regional in Fayetteville.

In order to keep their season alive past this week, the Jayhawks (43-15) will have to outlast Arkansas, North Dakota State and Creighton in a double-elimination, four-team tourney at Baum-Walker Field, which will get under way for Kansas at 7 p.m. Friday night against third-seeded Creighton.

The Jayhawks are officially on the Road to Omaha… As a 2 seed in the Arkansas regional. Will play Creighton to kick things off! Here’s the reaction. pic.twitter.com/aZvOQAF3Pv
— Matt Tait (@mctait) May 26, 2025

It marks the first time since 2014 and just the sixth time in program history that the Jayhawks will get a shot to play for a spot in the College World Series. And it comes in just the third year of Fitzgerald’s time leading the program.

“Really special,” Fitzgerald said Monday after the team’s watch party in the Crimson Room at Allen Fieldhouse. “Think about three years ago, if you would have said you're going to be a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament in Year 3, and
lead the Big 12 and wins, I would have thought, well, we would have won a Big 12 championship,” Fitzgerald said, laughing because of the fact that West Virginia, at 19-9, edged KU out at the top because of a scheduling quirk. “Goofy year with that, but if someone told me that, I would have taken it all day long and more.”

The Jayhawks are one of eight Big 12 programs in this year’s field, but none of them are slated to host. That, Fitzgerald said, was a product of the talent at the top of the conference but also something that he thought should not have happened.

In fact, he said he felt pretty certain that if either KU, West Virginia or TCU had won the Big 12 tournament last week, they would’ve hosted a regional. Instead, Arizona came away with the crown and the rest of the Big 12 was sent elsewhere to begin its postseason path.

For Kansas, which has spent the entire season making program history — most home runs, most road wins, most walks and more — the journey begins with the Jayhawks being the only team in the nation with 43 or more overall wins, 20 conference wins and 20 true road wins.

So, needless to say, this is a team that has plenty of confidence in what it’s capable of doing.

The Razorbacks, meanwhile, are the bracket’s No. 3 overall seed and both Creighton and NDSU are riding recent and sustained success.

“It’s four really good teams, which is exactly what you want,” Fitzgerald said. “You want to go to regional where you’ve got to compete at the highest level. That's literally the highest form of sport, going up against the best. So, we're thrilled, and couldn’t be more excited to get to Fayetteville.”

The Jayhawks practiced at home on Monday after the bracket was revealed and will practice again on Tuesday at home before heading south on Wednesday.

If KU survives the Arkansas regional, it will face the winner of the Tennessee regional in a best-of-three Super Regional for the right to go to Omaha for the College World Series.