Back in 1989, a man named Lew Perkins was the athletics director at Wichita State, and Bob Frederick was the athletics director at Kansas.

Wichita State’s baseball program was about to win its first and only College World Series, after missing out on its previous attempt the year before.

Kansas baseball was about to conclude a 32-35 season, 8-16 in the Big Eight. The Kansas Athletics Department was wrapping up a decade in which two programs — football and basketball — were in major trouble with the NCAA.

Fast-forward 16 years. Perkins is at Kansas leading a department that hasn’t faced any trouble since.

During that period of time, though, Jayhawk baseball has had limited success against the Shockers. With only 11 victories in 24 attempts, it’s fair to say that Wichita State has dominated most of the series.

During the last 10 years, Kansas managed just five victories in the series.

Last night’s 13-6 victory against the Shockers may have proven that Kansas has turned a corner in this series. Coach Ritch Price showed he thought his teams were ready to take on the state’s premier college baseball power when he scheduled the team for four games, instead of the two games that the teams have historically played.

“It’s about in-state recruiting rights and bragging rights and direction of programs,” Price said. “It’s really crucial that when you go head-to-head, you play well.”

Kansas’ previous victories against Wichita State are already producing some successes for Kansas. Junior centerfielder Gus Milner was recruited by both Kansas and Wichita State.

“They turned Gus Milner down. It was us and them and I made a better offer,” Price said.

Milner went 4-5 with six RBI. He managed two home runs, one of which left the park and still may not have hit the ground. Price said that last night’s victory was a chance for Milner to get even.

“I definitely had personal incentive to do a little better,” Milner said.

Wichita State and Kansas also both recruited Damon Sublette, freshman second baseman. He ended up contributing three hits in five at-bats for Wichita State.

Kansas is fortunate to have a team like Wichita State to play in between conference matches, as the talent is no less than that of a Big 12 team.

That’s important because Kansas baseball is beginning to show signs of competition in the Big 12 after two seasons of simply hanging around. Last year Kansas was just 7-19 in conference, 9-18 the year before.

Already this season Kansas has taken the series opener from each of two ranked opponents, Texas A&M; and Nebraska. If the ‘Hawks can start stringing big victories together, the team will be able to contend with the top competition in the region.

When that happens, Kansas and Wichita State will both be chasing the premier area talent. Every time the Jayhawks beat the Shockers, it’ll be just a little easier for the coaches in Lawrence to land the big recruits.

While it would be premature to declare that Kansas has become the baseball school in Kansas, last night’s victory was impressive. If Kansas can win two, or even all three, of the two teams’ remaining season tilts, Kansas will be in good shape.

But if this season’s history is the standard, it’s not guaranteed.