Vaguely Dominant, "Dom Was Dom Tonight"

Lawrence, KS- The Opening night of Big 12 conference play served as a welcoming barometer for two teams looking to continue pushing the envelope in the national conversation.  The home Kansas Jayhawks, donning a 15-2 non-conference record welcomed Baylor to Hoglund Ballpark on a night not only presenting with sizzling hot offenses and dynamite starting pitching, but also uncomfortable weather. 

When 2024 Big 12 Freshman of the year and the conference’s preseason pick for pitcher of the year Dom Voegele took the bump, hazy skies and 30 mile per hour winds served as active spectators.  While the weather, didn’t shake the demeanor of players and coaches, a wind tunnel in Lawrence would serve as a challenge for starters Dom Voegele and Ethan Calder. 

 Students and fans alike remained strong in their passion for the rejuvenated Jayhawk program coming out in spades just as they had in the previous two Jayhawk series’ in Lawrence.  The fans in blue, red and perhaps an extra layer rallied to consume 1,443 hot dogs as part of the university’s $1 hot dog promotion.  

While enticing, copious amounts of hot dogs and buns did not steal the show from Kansas starter Voegele.  The heralded Sophomore hadn’t disappointed by any stretch, though he self-identified his non-conference performances against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Tarleton State, Omaha and Milwaukee as an overall C or D on his letter scale.  Despite these self-graded low marks, Voegele with a 2-1 record and 27 strikeouts across 21.2 innings pitched.  

In his last outing against Milwaukee, Voegele gave up 3 first innings runs before settling in to earn the victory.  Still, Voegele didn’t want to play with his food on Friday night.  The Team USA alum settled in early against the Bears, striking out two of the first batters he faced, though Voegele remained even-keeled.  “Everybody in the lineup is tough” Voegele said of the Baylor offense, labeling Wesley Jordan as one who had a quality approach against his stuff. The Jayhawk ace didn’t balk early while remaining weary of a Baylor team that had entered the weekend on a five game winning streak.  

Voegele was able to dance around the danger of Jordan and the powerful bats of Jack Little and Hunter Simmons thanks to sticking to the gameplan involving filling up the zone, relying on the heavy wind blowing in to keep the ball in the yard.  

It wasn’t just wind keeping Baylor hitters stifled, it was stuff and Voegele knew it early.  The right-hander knew his arsenal working in the first two innings of work and he knew it wasn’t just some of his pitches working, it was all of them.  Combined with a weather-informed gameplan involving filling the left-side of the zone and pitching fearless, Voegele proved to be a challenge, even for a team who had seen him dazzle before.

Last season, Baylor Head Coach Mitch Thompson stood in his home dugout as Voegele threw six quality innings, striking out six Bears.  Tonight, on a night Thompson described as a tough night to pitch, Voegele perceived.  Of Voegele, Thompson raved Voegele had “Really good stuff, a 94 MPH fastball (he) located it really well, his slider and everything was breaking away from us. He pitched to the ballpark better than we did”.  Thompson jokes he’s glad Voegele is “done” for the weekend.  

Voegele coasted through his seven innings of work and according to Kansas Coach Dan Fitzgerald, the Jayhawk Friday man was “fantastic”, touching 95 multiple times.  Fitzgerald felt he had it all going and was extremely efficient, even feeling he had more in the tank when it came time to end his outing.  Voegele exited after the seventh, finishing with just three hits given up, 1 walk and six strikeouts on 106 pitches, this time giving himself a ‘B’ on his self-created scale.

While some coaches may have paused at sending Voegele out for his seventh inning of work with a 7-0 lead on 96 pitches, not Fitzgerald.  “100 is this kind of mythical number… Brandon (Scott) and I look at way more at where is the stuff trending and his stuff was trending up”.  The Sophomore didn’t flinch, carrying himself under the assumption he would collect the three outs in the seventh, and he did, taking the Bear batters down in order.

Fitzgerald gushed in hindsight, “It’s funny, we’ve had these moments of thinking Dom is just okay”, referring to some of his non-conference out-of-character starts, “and then he’s like a strikeout and a half an inning… I think today it was all there, his slider was there, his curveball was there, he threw a couple changeups late, one in the seventh that just disappeared.”  Fitzgerald finished with “Dom was Dom tonight”.  

The Jayhawks turned the ball over to bullpen arm Thaniel Trumper for the final two innings of work, shutting the door on the Bears and securing a 1-0 start for the Jayhawks in conference play.  The Jayhawks have made national waves early in the 2025 season, though Fitzgerald remains near-sighted, appreciating each game and learning more and more about his group each day.  

The Jayhawks and Bears return to Hoglund Ballpark Saturday afternoon, while Dan Fitzpatrick remains silent in naming a starter, Baylor is expected to hand the ball to lefty Bryson Bales and his 3.78 ERA.