KU’s Fitzgerald named Big 12 baseball coach of year as conference tourney nears
Kansas Jayhawks baseball coach Dan Fitzgerald is the Big 12 coach of the year for 2025, the conference office announced this week.
The Jayhawks had five players earn all-league mention in voting revealed Tuesday. Infielder Brady Ballinger was first-team; outfielder Jackson Hauge, designated hitter Dariel Osoria and pitcher Cooper Moore second team and infielder/outfielder Brady Counsell honorable mention.
Fitzgerald, who has led the Jayhawks to a 42-14 record entering this week’s Big 12 championship, is the KU baseball program’s first Big 12 coach of the year. The third-year Kansas coach is the second Jayhawks baseball coach to win a coach of the year award of any kind.
Dave Bingham won Big Eight and ABCA district coach of the year honors in 1993. Bingham led the Jayhawks to the College World Series that season.
This year’s team’s win total — 42 — is the most in a regular season in KU history.
“It’s a great honor for my entire coaching staff,” Fitzgerald said of the top coach honor. “Individual awards always point to the awesome accomplishments of a team. My assistants are elite baseball coaches but even better men. I’m very proud of the work we have all done together.”
Under Fitzgerald’s guidance, the Jayhawks have set school records for regular-season wins (42), Big 12 wins (20), conference wins (20), conference series wins (7), conference series sweeps (5), road wins (20) and home runs (98).
Ballinger, a native of Las Vegas, Nevada, leads the team in batting average (.365), walks (54) slugging percentage (.688), on-base percentage (.509), runs scored (69), hits (76), doubles (20), total bases (143) and multi-hit games (23).
Ballinger’s 54 walks lead the Big 12 and are tied for ninth nationally, while his 69 runs scored (tied for 19th nationally) and 20 doubles are tied for first in the league. He has also posted a .509 on-base percentage which ranks 24th in the country. Ballinger’s 15 home runs are tied for the fifth most in program history and his 54 walks are third most in school history.
“Brady is very deserving of the award,” Fitzgerald said. “He is one of the top hitters in the country. More impressively, he is one of the best teammates in the country. He’s a really special Jayhawk. Moore, Hauge, Counsell, and Osoria all had great years and very much earned this recognition. They performed at a really high level and are huge pieces to this year’s success.”
Cincinnati infielder Kerrington Cross was named the Big 12 player of the year and Houston’s Antoine Jean was tabbed Big 12 pitcher of the year. The honorees were selected in a vote by the league’s head coaches, who could not vote for their own players.
Arizona State’s Matt King and Oklahoma State’s Harrison Bodendorf shared co-newcomer of the Year honors while TCU’s Sawyer Strosnider earned Big 12 freshman of the year. Arizona’s Tony Pluta rounded out the awards as the scholar-athlete of the Year.
Kansas State infielder Maximus Martin and outfielder Keegan O’Connor were named second-team all-league. K-State infielder AJ Evasco was named to the all freshman team and Seth Dardar, Jacob Frost and James Guyette honorable mention.
KU will open the 2025 Big 12 baseball championship against either Baylor or Oklahoma State at 4 p.m. Thursday at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers. The game will be shown on ESPNU.
KU received a first round bye and an automatic spot in the tournament’s quarterfinals by finishing with one of the four best winning percentages in the conference. On the Kansas side of the bracket is No. 3 TCU, No. 6 Kansas State, No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 10 Baylor and No. 11 Houston.
The other side of the bracket is No. 1 West Virginia, No. 4 Arizona, No. 5 Arizona State, No. 8 Cincinnati, No. 9 Texas Tech and No. 12 BYU. UCF and Utah did not qualify for the tournament. All 12 teams participating in the event own a top 90 RPI, with eight in the top 50.
This story was originally published May 21, 2025 at 10:07 AM with the headline "KU’s Fitzgerald named Big 12 baseball coach of year as conference tourney nears."
