This spring, Jayhawk baseball just isn’t Jayhawk baseball without a little weather interference, and the Western Illinois series didn’t break the trend.

On Thursday, Kansas pushed back the start of its home opener for the fifth time. The Western Illinois series, slated to start Saturday and finish with a doubleheader Sunday has been changed. The double-header Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark still stands, but the series will wrap up Monday afternoon. Nevertheless, Kansas (7-5) is determined to finally get a game in at home. Four straight losses followed the cancellation of the North Dakota State series two weeks ago.

“The most important thing is we need to get outside on our field and be able to take batting practice on our field and have live hitters on our field in addition to the series — and play a home game,” coach Ritch Price said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

Canceling the North Dakota series left an 11-day hole without a single game. Although Price and his team firmly agreed that the extended break is behind them now, some effects still seemed to be lingering, namely against Oral Roberts on Tuesday.

The 9-1 loss at the hands of the Golden Eagles was the worst this year.

“It’s definitely a little bit of a wake up call,” senior center fielder Kyle Murphy said. “But we’re making some mistakes that we’re not going to make in a couple months.” Murphy also said he didn’t think the team’s confidence had dropped.

Murphy was the only Jayhawk to score against Oral Roberts. He joins junior left fielder John Allman as one of only two Jayhawks hitting over .300.

With only a pair of Jayhawks surpassing the .300 mark, the Leathernecks of Western Illinois will have the advantage at the plate. As a team, Western Illinois will enter the series hitting .308.

With the luck Kansas has with playing at home, exact times are hard to come by. The proposed start time, however, is 2 p.m. Sunday.

Kansan sportswriter Alissa Bauer can be contacted at abauer@kansan.com.

— Edited by Will McCullough