It’s just early April, and there’s still plenty of season left, but there are a few teams in college baseball that seem to be ahead of the curve.
Only eight teams make it to Omaha every summer, and it feels pretty safe to assume that teams like Arkansas, LSU, and Texas are built to make a run.
Baseball America recently published their first in-season “Eight for Omaha” projection, giving their predicted teams to make up the College World Series field in June, and all three of those teams make the cut. In fact, the projected field is made up of five SEC teams, two ACC teams, and one team from the Big 12.
That team is none other than the Kansas Jayhawks.
Here’s what Baseball America’s Jacob Rudner had to say about one of the most surprising teams in the country through the first half of the season.
“One of two bolder picks in this iteration of Eight for Omaha, Kansas has positioned itself as one of the more surprising contenders in college baseball this season,” Rudner writes. “The Jayhawks are off to the best start in program history, sitting at 27-7 overall and 9-3 in Big 12 play through eight weekends. Offensively, they’ve been one of the nation’s most dangerous lineups—ranking fourth in home runs and 14th in scoring—while the pitching staff has held its own with a team ERA ranked 44th nationally. That balance has helped Kansas maintain a consistent presence near the top of the Big 12 standings.
“It’s fair to wonder how a group built mostly with non-Division I transfers will perform in a postseason field likely filled with bluebloods, but so far, Kansas has more than held its own against high-major opponents. Early results suggest the Jayhawks belong in the conversation, and their statistical performance has been that of a team capable of making a deep push.”
Kansas enters this weekend with a 27-7 overall record and a 9-3 mark in Big 12 play.
They’ll start a three-game series against TCU in Fort Worth tonight and will follow that by hosting Kansas State in Lawrence next weekend.
