“It seems like any other game : like if you watch football on TV and it’s 45 to nothing, you turn it off,” Milner said. “The tough part is staying in focus and trying to get it over with.”

If that’s the case, the Jayhawks benefitted from not changing the channel or even tuning out in a 14-4 rout of Tabor College on Wednesday at Hoglund Ballpark.

Kansas scored seven runs in the first two innings, but managed to keep focus despite the lopsided tally. The Jayhawks scored in all but three innings, giving a workmanlike mid-week effort after struggling in two non-conference victories against North Dakota State last week.

“When you lose to a team that is under .500 or has a low RPI, those are devastating to your program when you play in a major conference like we do,” Kansas coach Ritch Price said. “I think it’s just another sign in the development of our program that our pitching’s good enough now that we’re not letting that happen.”

Starter Nick Czyz never allowed Tabor to get into the game, picking up the win after going five innings and allowing no earned runs.

By the time he was replaced in the sixth, the NAIA Cardinals had nearly one foot on the bus facing an 11-2 deficit.

With the comfortable lead, Price was able to accomplish his pre-game goal of emptying his bench, and junior Ross Kelling made the most of his opportunity in the sixth.

After subbing for Preston Land, the first baseman jumped on Philip Unruh’s first-pitch change-up for a two-run homer.

“It’s one of the best feelings in baseball that’s for sure – knowing that you really got ahold of one,” Kelling said. “You take a couple of steps to watch it, then you’ve got to run because coach is going to get on you if you don’t.”

The left-hander blasted the off-speed offering so hard he nearly cleared the high-reaching trees over the right-center-field fence.

“That ball was hammered,” Price said. “That’s one of the best balls I’ve seen hit here.”

Jared Schweitzer and Preston Land teed off in the first, both launching home runs to give Kansas a 4-0 lead.

Ritchie Price led Kansas with three hits and a pair of RBIs. Land went 2-for-2 with three RBIs in his four innings, tying KU’s freshman record with his seventh home run of the season in the first.

Brock Simpson went 2-for-3 with three runs scored. After coming a double short of the cycle in Tuesday’s game against Missouri State, the sophomore led off the first inning with – you guessed it – a double.