2026 Baseball Season Set to Start Friday at UTRGV

Friday, February 13

Edinburg, Texas

6:30 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

UTRGV

2026 Baseball Season Set to Start Friday at UTRGV

2/11/2026 2:48:00 PM | Baseball

Live Stats Listen Kansas Game Notes

Kansas at UTRGV
When	Friday, Feb. 13 – Sunday, Feb. 15
Where	Edinburg, Texas // UTRGV Baseball Stadium
Watch	Friday \| Saturday \| Sunday
Radio	Jayhawk Sports Network
Live Stats	Friday \| Saturday \| Sunday
Game Notes	Kansas
Social Media	@KUBaseball \| @kubaseball \| Facebook

Probable Starting Pitchers
Day	Kansas	UTRGV
Fri. 6:30 p.m. CT	RHP Dominic Voegele	RHP Sergio Lopez
Sat. 6:30 p.m. CT	RHP Mathis Nayral	LHP Víctor Loa
Sun. 1 p.m. CT	RHP Madden Seidl	RHP Robert Bonilla

EDINBURG, Texas – Kansas baseball will start its 136th season, and the fourth under Big 12 Coach of the Year Dan Fitzgerald, on Friday with a three-game series at UTRGV. The Jayhawks are beginning the season in the state of Texas for the fifth consecutive season.

"It feels like yesterday that we were wrapping up our season," Fitzgerald said. "This offseason went really fast. We put together what we think is a really nice roster. We really like the new pieces and we really like the guys that have returned. My staff did a great job in putting this roster together and a great schedule. It should be a great challenge and we can't wait to get going."

Kansas had one of the most historic seasons in school history in 2025, finishing with an overall record of 43-17 and a 20-10 mark in Big 12 play. The Jayhawks qualified for the NCAA Tournament and played in its first NCAA Regional since 2014.

The Jayhawks tied their second most wins in school history and the most under Fitzgerald. The 42 regular season wins and 20 conference victories were both the most in a regular season in school history. Kansas also established new program records in conference series wins (seven), conference series sweeps (five), road wins (20), come-from-behind wins (26), home runs (104) and walks (363).

Kansas had nine players from the 2025 roster move on to play professional baseball (three draft picks, three free agents, three independent contracts). Brady Counsell, Alex Breckheimer and Derek Cerda were all selected in the 2025 MLB Draft. In three seasons at Kansas, Fitzgerald and his coaching staff have produced 19 professional players, two in 2023, eight in 2024 and nine in 2025.

UTRGV enters the 2026 season after a 36-18 campaign in 2025 that narrowly missed qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. The Vaqueros returned 10 position players from last season, eight of whom spent at least some time as starters, for a team that ranked in the top 20 in the nation in fielding percentage (.979), double plays (47), and double plays per game (0.87). UTRGV is also deep on the mound, returning five pitchers who made multiple starts last season.

HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
All three games this weekend will be broadcast on ESPN+. Fans can also listen to all three 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 X page @KUBaseball.

2026 ROSTER MAKEUP
The 2026 roster has a total of 36 student-athletes, with 26 newcomers and 10 returners. Of the 36 on the 2026 roster, there are 22 pitchers and 14 position players. The roster was constructed with 29 transfers and seven high school recruits.

BRADY KNOWS BALL
Junior Brady Ballinger highlights the returning position players and is expected to transition to a larger role in left field this season. Ballinger collected nearly every possible preseason accolade. He was named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List, a Preseason All-American by D1Baseball, Baseball America, NCBWA and Perfect Game and voted to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team.

Last season, he started 58 games at first base and led the team in batting average (.353), walks (56), slugging percentage (.670), on-base percentage (.495), OPS (1.165), runs scored (71), hits (79), doubles (21), total bases (150), multi-hit games (24) and multi-walk games (16).

DEPENDABLE DOM
Junior Dominic Voegele is the only Kansas player who will be entering at least his third season in Lawrence. At the end of 2025, Voegele ranked second in the Big 12 in innings pitched (96.1), tied for fifth in wins (7) and ninth in strikeouts (89). Voegele tossed at least six innings in eight of his 16 starts a year ago.

He enters 2026 as a Preseason All-Big 12 Team selection and the top starter on the Kansas pitching staff. D1Baseball listed him as the No. 6 MLB Draft prospect for 2026 in the Big 12.

WATCH FOR DARIEL DEFENSIVELY
Senior Dariel Osoria is also back in 2026 and is expected to play a bigger role defensively, primarily at second base. A season ago, Osoria was an All-Big 12 Second Team selection that started 52 games, with 46 of those starts as the designated hitter. In 2025, Osoria hit .324 with 13 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 47 RBIs, 44 runs and 30 walks.

SERIES HISTORY
Kansas and UTRGV have played in baseball on 30 occasions all-time. UTRGV leads the series 21-9, with the last meeting coming in 2004. The Vaqueros have won the last three matchups, but Kansas won the four previous matchups before that. Nearly the entirety of the series has been played on the road, with 27 of the 30 games happening in Edinburg.

UP NEXT
Kansas will continue its opening 12-day road trip with a midweek game at Lamar on Feb. 18 and a three-game weekend series at McNeese State from Feb. 20-22.