The last time shortstop David Narodowski and second baseman Robby Price turned a double play together was March 6 against Northwestern — 13 games and 119 innings ago. Then, in the fifth inning of Tuesday’s game, that all changed.

Western Illinois cleanup hitter Kenny Price chopped a grounder to short. Narodowski fielded it and flipped to Robby, who fired a throw to first baseman Zac Elgie.

All of a sudden it was like the Jayhawks’ junior middle infielders couldn’t help themselves. They turned three in Wednesday’s 7-4 victory against Western Illinois, each turning one by themselves before collaborating on a textbook 4-6-3 double play in the ninth on a ground ball induced by senior closer Paul Smyth.

Seven times in Wednesday’s game the Leathernecks found themselves with a runner on first and less than two outs, and only three runners made it past that. Robby and Narodowski are quick to share credit, though.

“Every time there’s a guy at first,” Narodowski said, “Paulie runs that fastball in on right-handed hitters and gets them to hit little knuckle ground balls and after that it’s just routine.”

Robby was quick to give the pitching credit as well, saying the Jayhawk pitchers weren’t letting the Leathernecks hit anything hard and were giving them a chance to “roll them up,” but he also said he and Narodowski have started to recognize each other’s tendencies on double play balls.

“I’m starting to get a feel for what he’s going to do on what type of feeds,” Robby said, “and the same with me for him. He’s been real smooth out there and it’s been real easy to work with him.”

Coach Ritch Price, Robby’s father, said that double plays have a huge influence in a game, especially with Kansas’ style of baseball.

“I think, especially when you’re trying to pitch to contact like we are, if you can execute in the middle of the diamond then you can get out of a lot of jams,” Ritch said.

It’s not easy work for Narodowski and the younger Price, though. It’s their first season working together, and Robby spent last season playing with Texas Rangers draft pick Erik Morrison.

“In the fall we practiced that a lot, actually,” Narodowski said. “In practices during the week, too, we spend probably 15 or 20 minutes just working on double plays, so we’ve started to get used to each other with that.”

While Robby and Narodowski are getting used to each other in the field, it’s a safe bet that the Kansas pitchers won’t have any trouble getting used to the results.

— — Edited by Heather Melanson