It’s not one of the names you hear too often when you talk about Kansas baseball — that honor is generally reserved for Tony Thompson, Buck Afenir and the pitcher of your choosing — but sophomore right fielder Brian Heere is thrusting himself into the discussion of Kansas’ stars on the diamond.

With an opposite-field, two-run home run — into a 22 mile-per-hour breeze, no less — in the first inning of Sunday’s double-header and a run scored later in the third, Heere single-handedly provided the Jayhawks with all the offense they would need in their 8-2 rout in game one.

“That was huge,” said sophomore T.J. Walz, who earned the victory in game one with 7.2 innings of work. “It’s so much better to go out and pitch with a lead. You don’t have to be as perfect when you can trust your offense to produce for you.”

In the process he raised his average to a team-leading .394 (though he settled to a more human .386 by the day’s end).

“I had a pretty good fall, so I’ve just been trying to redo those things,” Heere said. “Just see what I was seeing, feel what I was feeling. It’s just being patient and trying to find a good pitch to hit.”

After his one-man-wrecking-crew performance in Game 1, he went 2-for-4 with three runs, three RBI, a double and a homer—it had to be expected that Heere would fall back to earth a little bit. Or not. He hit a game-tying double in the sixth inning when the Jayhawks were staring down a 2-1 deficit and was integral in the Jayhawks’ 6-4 win on both sides of the ball.

“He was unbelievable today,” coach Ritch Price said. “That’s as fine a performance as we’ve had from somebody since I’ve been here.”

Even when he was not on the field, Heere made a difference for the Jayhawks on Sunday. Freshman James Stanfield drove in what ended up being the winning runs with Heere standing in the on deck circle.

“I think they were wanting to pitch to me more because Heere was behind me,” Stanfield said. “They just didn’t want to face him.”

Heere’s quiet production has gone largely unnoticed, but it hasn’t fallen off Price’s radar. The right fielder’s “unbelievable” day was just a microcosm of what he has done this season.

“I just marvel at his stats, and then I marvel watching him play every day,” Price said. “I thought he had a chance to be a really good player, but I had no idea he’d be able to play at the level he has played at. It’s been fun to watch.”

— — Edited by Realle Roth