None of the Jayhawks who step on the mound this weekend at the NCAA Tournament regional in Louisville, Kentucky, will do so with the intention of going all Nolan Ryan against Kentucky, Louisville or Kent State.

Senior right-hander Frank Duncan said he and fellow starters Jordan Piché and Robert Kahana, as well as KU’s relievers, trust the talented defense behind them every time they throw a pitch.

“With our kind of staff, there’s really not one pitcher who’s gonna go out there and really dominate and throw 95-plus and strike out a bunch of guys,” Duncan said.”We’re all very much pitchers and have to know how to pitch and use our stuff.”

Duncan slings his breaking balls with enviable natural spin. Piché, the probable starter for the Jayhawks’ opener today against Kentucky (1 p.m., ESPN3), has unique command of his slider. Kahana mixes a fastball in the low 90s with off-speed pitches that aim to fool batters.

Nick Krug

A 6-foot, 179-pound senior, Piché said one thing they all have in common is their competitiveness.

“We love to have the ball in our hands and throw,” the Greeley, Colorado, native said. “But I think there’s a lot of variability between us, so each start is different.”

Twelfth-year KU coach Ritch Price, who has his program in the NCAAs for the third time, expects this weekend to come down to the staff’s starters.

“If we play three games, we’ve gotta get three quality starts,” Price said, “and hand it to our bullpen in roles that those guys can be successful in.” 

The Jayhawks’ starters had their share of struggles after then-No. 1 Wes Benjamin suffered an ulnar collateral ligament tear that cost the lefty the rest of his junior season. In need of a new Friday-night starter, the coaches converted Piché from a closer. In his first three starts, the Jayhawks lost against Kansas State, TCU and Oklahoma State. Kansas (34-24) lost 12 of 18 games from March 28 (the date of Benjamin’s injury) to April 23.

The staff needed to find a rhythm, and Piché wanted to establish it: “I felt like it was almost 100 percent on me,” he said.

Once Piché (6-5, 4.25 ERA) got comfortable, KU won three straight when he started and 11 of 12 overall in the same stretch. Duncan said the pitching staff found a way to thrive, because each righty (Benjamin was the team’s only lefty) realized no one player could replace the team’s injured ace.

“It didn’t change our jobs,” Duncan said. “Our job is to throw strikes and get outs and get our team in a position to win games.”

Kansas pitching coach Ryan Graves loves the way his staff doesn’t get caught up in strikeout numbers. KU is second in the Big 12 with 2.57 walks per nine innings (only TCU is better at 2.19). Duncan (6-3, 2.46 ERA) is third in the Big 12 with 80 Ks and leads the conference in innings pitched (109.2), but he — like the rest of KU’s pitchers — don’t mind attacking the strike zone.

“That’s when you really can succeed and get ground-ball outs and fly-ball outs,” the 6-3, 215-pound senior said. “We understand sometimes the ball’s gonna fall in, and they’ll have some cheap base hits. You just have to keep pitching your game.”

Part of the battle includes retiring opponents’ left-handed hitters with no left-handed pitcher. Graves said KU’s right-handers have worked the past couple of years to develop changeups and other weapons capable of retiring southpaws.

“It didn’t look like the best plan, having a bunch of righties running around,” Graves said with a grin. “But at least they’ve adapted and gotten better with handling left-handers.”

The Jayhawks could have their hands full against Kentucky (35-23) and its left-handed slugger, SEC Player of the Year A.J. Reed (.351 average, 23 home runs, 70 RBIs). But KU is 5-4 against top-25 teams this season, and the Wildcats are No. 22 (Louisville is No. 8).

Kahana, a 6-foot, 211-pound junior who threw 822/3 innings (ninth in the Big 12), said KU’s pitchers will approach the regional with the mentality of throwing deep into a game and saving the bullpen — led by junior Drew Morovick and freshman closer Stephen Villines. As always, they’ll pitch in the zone and trust their defense.

“That’s one of our keys to success this season,” Kahana said.