Three current Jayhawks have agreed to play summer ball in Washington with the Walla Walla Sweets, the team announced Wednesday. The Sweets, an expansion team in the West Coast League, have signed sophomore James Stanfield along with freshmen Jordan Dreiling and Kevin Kuntz for what will be the Sweets’ inaugural season.

“That is where we are going to start, I am confident that these three — James, Jordan and Kevin ­­— will be a good step in that direction,” Walla Walla Sweets general manager Zachery Fraser said in a press release. “They come highly recommended from a program that has quickly become one of the elite programs in a top conference.”

Stanfield, an Owasso, Okla., native, played in 23 games as a freshman, turning in a .250 batting average with a double and 13 RBIs. He was primarily used as a utility infielder during the 2009 campaign.

Both Kuntz, an infielder from Overland Park, and Dreiling, a Lawrence infielder who was a redshirt last season, will take their first swings at the collegiate level when the Jayhawks open up play this spring.

— Ben Ward