⚾ English, Dutton Garner Big 12 Weekly Awards

IRVING, Texas – Kansas seniors Jake English and Reese Dutton each received Big 12 weekly honors, the conference office announced Monday. English was named the Big 12 Player of the Week and Dutton was selected as Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week.

The Big 12 award is the first of English’s career, while Dutton earned Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and Co-Newcomer of the Week earlier this season.

English hit .500/.571/1.167 (6-for-12), with two doubles, two home runs, five RBIs, six runs scored, two walks and a 1.738 OPS in a three-game sweep at BYU this past weekend. English homered in back-to-back games for the fifth time in his career and second time this season on Thursday and Friday against the Cougars.

English posted back-to-back three-hit games for the first time in his career on Thursday and the first game of a doubleheader Friday. He hit a double and home run in both of those games. The Olathe native caught game one and played first base in the second game of the doubleheader Friday. English played a big role in Kansas clinching its first doubleheader sweep on the road against a Big 12 team since 1997.

This season, English is second in the Big 12 in doubles (13) and slugging percentage (.728), tied for fourth in home runs (8) and walks (25), fifth in on-base percentage (.500) and tied for eighth in runs scored (29).

Dutton recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts as he pitched eight dominant innings and allowed only one run at BYU on Thursday. Dutton has won six-straight games, which includes five-consecutive quality starts. The six-straight wins are the most by a KU pitcher since 1994. Dutton’s 12 strikeouts were also the most by a Kansas pitcher since the 2020 season.

Dutton had two strikeouts in the first inning, one in the second, two in the third, one in the fourth, one in the fifth, one in the sixth, two in the seventh and two in the eighth. The Kenosha, Wisconsin, native is the only Big 12 pitcher this season to win his first four starts in conference play.

Currently, Dutton ranks first in the Big 12 in wins (6), second in innings pitched (43.0), fifth in WHIP (1.05), sixth in opponent batting average (.204), seventh in ERA (2.30) and is tied for eighth in strikeouts (43). In conference games, he leads the league in wins (4) and innings pitched (28.0).

Dutton has won six of his first seven starts, making him the first KU pitcher to have six wins in his first seven starts since 2001.

Dutton is the first Jayhawk since James Cosentino in 2017 to win Big 12 Newcomer of the Week twice in the same season. Dutton also received the honor on March 11 after beating No. 3-ranked TCU.

English and Dutton are the first Kansas duo to receive a Big 12 weekly award in the same week since Casey Burnham and Ryan Cyr on May 6, 2019. English is the 20th player in Kansas history to win Big 12 Player of the Week and Dutton is the 16th Jayhawk to win Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors.

Kansas (15-10, 7-5 Big 12) recorded its first series sweep on the road since 2014 at BYU this past weekend. KU will play at Wichita State on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. CT. Then, the Jayhawks will host West Virginia for a three-game series this weekend at Hoglund Ballpark. Kansas currently sits in fourth place in the Big 12 standings.