Taking a look at the Big 12 leader boards, there is a familiar name near the top of every category.

Sophomore third baseman Tony Thompson is having a season to remember, leading the Big 12 in RBIs. He is also second in home runs and third in batting average. It seems as though Thompson can’t go a game without getting at least one RBI.

“I’m sure I can — I just don’t really want to,” Thompson said, laughing. “It’d be nice to get one in every game.”

Thompson now has RBIs in 11 of his past 14 games.

Thompson has put up numbers worthy of the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year title and has carried Kansas at times with his 12 home runs and 54 RBIs. Coach Ritch Price certainly won’t scoff at the idea of Thompson’s name in the running for the award, which would be a first for the program.

“I think his numbers are better than the guys at Texas,” Price said. “They’re winning with pitching. He’s certainly doing it on the offensive side of the ball.”

Thompson’s gaudy numbers are also placing him in the running to be the conference’s first triple-crown winner. Price won’t count Thompson out for that achievement, either.

“He’s got a chance,” Price said. “He’s in position to end up this thing as a good a season anybody’s ever had at the University of Kansas.”

But Thompson's sole focus is keeping the Jayhawks in the hunt for a Big 12 championship.

“It’s our goal all year to be atop the Big 12 at the end of conference play,” Thompson said.

Junior second baseman Robby Price said it had been a fun ride watching Thompson explode onto the scene as a potential perennial power-hitter in the Big 12.

“He got off to a slow start just like any freshman usually does” Robby Price said. “But you look at the last third of the year in the Big 12 conference and I think he finished over .300 in the Big 12 conference as a freshman. So he had that confidence.”

Robby Price said he noticed the way Thompson handled himself on and off the field this year.

“He has high expectations about himself and the team,” Robby Price said.

Running out of superlatives to describe Thompson, Robby Price just smiled, laughed and described Thompson in the simplest way.

“Obviously, the dude’s been awesome,” He said. “You can’t have a better year than what he’s doing right now.”

— — Edited by Grant Treaster