It didn’t matter how much the Eck Stadium season-high crowd of 5,697 booed Lee Ridenhour, he wasn’t leaving town without a win and a season sweep of the in-state rival Shockers for the first time since 2000.

“That was huge. It was my first time ever beating them, then to go out and get the sweep tonight was huge.” junior second baseman Robby Price said. “Now we just have to keep building from there.

Ridenhour, Kansas’ prized freshman arm, silenced the Shockers’ bats two months ago in Lawrence, and told reporters after the game that he had picked Kansas over the Shockers during his recruitment because Wichita State was a program on the decline.

“It was a hostile environment for him tonight,” coach Ritch Price said. “He ran his mouth a little bit in the newspaper the first time when he was really excited about his performance, but he’s grown up, he’s more mature.”

This time, while he wasn’t able to match his eight-inning, three-hit shutout performance in March, he did everything that the Jayhawks needed him to in Wednesday night’s 8-3 win. After staking the opposition to a two-run lead on a Ryan Jones home run to center, Ridenhour settled in silenced the Wichita State bats, not giving up another run in 5 1/3 innings of work.

“It was amazing. What a great environment to play in,” Ridenhour said. “I was really excited with all the fans out here. I just had to go out there and throw strikes. I had to go out there and really pitch well in order to beat these guys.”

The offense didn’t start to chip away at the Shocker lead until the top of the fifth inning. Freshman Zac Elgie, hitting in the typically unproductive eighth spot in the lineup, singled and worked his way around the bases with two outs. He eventually crossed the plate on a passed ball by Wichita State starter Brian Flynn.

It wasn’t until the sixth inning, though, that ever-dangerous sophomore Tony Thompson gave the Jayhawks the lead for good. With Brian Heere standing on first base, Thompson hammered a ball opposite field, just over the 375 painted on the wall in right-center. It was Thompson’s fifteenth home run of the season, and it moved him within three of the single season record, with at least seven games to play.

“He’s the man,” Price said. “Reigning Big 12 player of the week, he’s off to the start of going back-to-back weeks if it carries over to this weekend.”

Thompson struck again an inning later, singling in a run with the bases loaded and one out. It was RBI number 66 on the season for Thompson, the fourth-most in Kansas history. Two innings later, sophomore Brian Heere pushed the score to 8-2 with a home run that chased Thompson’s out to right field.

“I’ve been getting some good pitches to hit, I guess,” Thompson said. “The guys in front of me are getting on base, so I’m able to see pretty good pitches every at bat.”

The Jayhawks pitchers were helped out by some sparkling defense behind them, in particular that of junior second baseman Robby Price. On three separate occasions Price turned in highlight reel stops, including one in the seventh inning where he picked a one-hopper off the Tyler Field turf to turn an inning-ending double play and suck whatever life was left out of the Shockers.

“Robby thought he was Roberto Alomar out there tonight,” the elder Price said, comparing his son to the 10-time gold glove winner. “It took a couple runs off the board, no doubt about that. He was absolutely special with the glove tonight.”

— — Edited by Carly Halvorson