After winning their first three conference games Kansas lost five of their next six. This dropped them all the way down to a tie for 7th place in the Big-12. Only the top eight teams make the Big-12 tournament so Kansas has no saftey cushion left from their sweep of Texas. On the positive side all three teams Kansas has played had been predicted to finish near the top of the Big-12. Oklahoma State comes to Lawrence next weekend and the Cowboys are plenty tough, but after that the schedule should ease up a bit. OSU is tied with KU at 4-5 in the Big-12 but the Cowboys have the best RPI at #12 so don't let their conference record fool you into thinking they are not a terrifying team.
Current Big-12 Standings
| Big 12 | Pct | Overall | RPI | |
| Oklahoma | 6-3 | .667 | 25-7 | 28 |
| Baylor | 7-5 | .583 | 20-8 | 14 |
| Texas A&M | 7-5 | .583 | 20-11 | 25 |
| Kansas State | 5-4 | .556 | 24-8 | 40 |
| Texas | 6-6 | .500 | 20-8 | 17 |
| Texas Tech | 6-6 | .500 | 14-19 | 107 |
| Oklahoma State | 4-5 | .444 | 21-10 | 12 |
| Kansas | 4-5 | .444 | 18-12 | 60 |
| Missouri | 5-7 | .417 | 15-16 | 55 |
| Nebraska | 4-8 | .333 | 16-14-1 | 66 |
Right now Kansas is on the cold side of the NCAA bubble. Kansas will need to win about 13 Big-12 games and continue to take care of business during mid-week games to attract attention at the end of the season.
Check out Big-12 Hardball for weekly updates on all conference teams. You can take part in a weekly Pick 'em contest at the site. Leave your predictions each Friday, gather up praise or shame each Monday.
More KU Baseball notes after the jump. Former Jayhawks in Pro Ball, Nick Faunce's journal, a nice story about the Yips and KU pitching and defense.
No former Jayhawks will be on MLB opening day rosters this year. The Rangers designated Travis Metcalf for assignment to remove him from their 40 man roster on Saturday. During the next ten days the Rangers might trade him. If he is not traded he can be released or optioned to AAA. The Phillies placed Mike Zagurski on the 15-day disabled list. Hopefully Mike will be ready to pitch again before the all-star break. Earlier in the month the Pirates sent Tom Gorzelanny down to their AAA club.
Nick Faunce has been posting a journal throughout the season at the KU baseball home page. It is worth checking out. His March 31st entry about how he and some teammates had to help the grounds crew tame the field tarp on a windy Kansas day is a good read. The Hawks had to ask the visiting Northern Colorado players to lend a hand.
For local Lawrence baseball news, last year Lawrence High pitcher Andy Urban had the "Yips" so bad he could hardly play catch with his father in the back yard. On Friday he threw a no-hitter against Shawnee Mission North. Nice story here.
And in case you were wondering, the average score of an NCAA D-I baseball game this year is 9-4. On average NCAA D-I teams give up 6.8 runs per game. That number really brings KU's outstanding pitching and defense this year into context. Even after the massacre on Sunday Kansas is only surrendering 4.9 runs per game against D-I opponents, almost two runs under the national average.