| Kansas (8-11) at No. 24 TCU (12-9) | |
| When | March 24-26 |
| Where | Fort Worth, Texas // Lupton Stadium |
| Live Video | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Radio | Jayhawk Sports Network |
| Live Stats | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Notes | Kansas | TCU | Big 12 |
| Social Media | @KUBaseball  | @kubaseball | Facebook   |
| Probable Starting Pitchers | |||||||||
| Day | Kansas | TCU | |||||||
| Fri. 6:30 p.m. CT | RHP Collin Baumgartner (2-0, 2.96 ERA) | RHP Ryan Vanderhei (2-2, 4.38 ERA) | |||||||
| Sat. 2 p.m. CT | RHP Sam Ireland (2-2, 3.48 ERA) | RHP Kole Klecker (3-2, 2.22 ERA) | |||||||
| Sun. 1 p.m. CT | TBA | RHP Cam Brown (1-0, 2.70 ERA) | |||||||
FORT WORTH, Texas – The beginning of the 2023 conference baseball season begins this weekend for Kansas as the Jayhawks travel to No. 24 TCU. A three-game series is scheduled for this weekend at Lupton Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday evening.
The Jayhawks are coming off a setback to No. 15 Missouri on Wednesday night in a game that was played at Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals. Kansas trailed in the game 3-0, but battled back to tie the game with a run in the seventh and two runs in the eighth inning to even the score at 3-3. Missouri prevailed with an 8-3 win after a big ninth inning.
Over a third of the way through the season, Kansas has a .982 fielding percentage. The stellar defense has KU ranked 10th in the nation in fielding percentage and first in the Big 12. The Jayhawks defense has only committed 12 errors in 19 games this season.
Sophomore Chase Jans continues to lead Kansas offensively with a 15-game hitting streak. That is the longest streak of his career and the longest by a Jayhawk this season. Jans has a .328 batting average after starting in 17 games, which includes four doubles, one triple, two home runs and 13 RBIs. He had a leadoff walk in the eighth inning against Missouri to start the rally that helped Kansas comeback to tie the game. Redshirt sophomore and Wabash Valley College transfer Mike Koszewski has a streak of his own as he has reached base safely in 17 consecutive games.
Kansas will stick with their same Friday and Saturday starters this week in graduate SIU-Edwardsville transfer Collin Baumgartner and junior Minnesota transfer Sam Ireland. Baumgartner has a 2-0 with a sub-3.00 ERA and leads the team with 27 strikeouts. He threw a career-high 7.1 innings last week against The Citadel. Meanwhile, Ireland leads the team with 31.0 innings pitched and allowed only two runs over 6.1 innings last weekend.
In the all-time series between the two schools, TCU has a 23-11 advantage against Kansas. The Jayhawks won the last game they played in Fort Worth by a score of 2-1 on April 25, 2021 defeating then 8th-ranked TCU. Trailing by a run in the fourth inning, Kansas scored a pair of runs and kept TCU scoreless the rest of the way.
TCU (12-9) has been ranked as high as No. 8 in the polls this season and is currently ranked No. 24 by Perfect Game. The Horned Frogs began the season with back-to-back wins over top-10 ranked opponents in Vanderbilt and Arkansas. They have dropped weekend series to Florida State and Oklahoma since, but picked up midweek victories against Abilene Christian and Northwestern this week. Tre Richardson leads the TCU offense with a .321 batting average. On the mound, Kansas will face former Jayhawk Ryan Vanderhei on Friday who transferred to TCU following the end of last season.
HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
All three games this weekend will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Fans can also listen to the games on the Jayhawk Sports Network on KUAthletics.com and the Kansas Jayhawks app.
Live statistics can be found here, while live updates will also be provided on the team’s official Twitter page @KUBaseball.
UP NEXT
Kansas (8-11) will play its second game of the season at Hoglund Ballpark on Wednesday, March 29. The Jayhawks host Creighton for a midweek matchup that has first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. Fans can purchase tickets to the game by contacting the Kansas ticket office at 785-864-3141 or by visiting the ticketing page here.
