Oklahoma City, Okla. — Following yet another disappointing defeat, the anguish on the faces coach Ritch Price and the Jayhawks was evident.

Now unlikely to make the NCAA Tournament, their words were equally candid.

“I think we probably eliminated ourselves on Wednesday, to be honest,” coach Price said.

Kansas (31-26-1) lost its fifth straight game – its longest losing streak since 2005 – this time 10-5 to Kansas State at AT&T Brickyard Ballpark.

The latest defeat was a combination of all the things that have plagued the Jayhawks in recent weeks: missed scoring opportunities, spotty pitching, and sometimes just plain bad luck.

“When you’re going bad, those things happen to you,” coach Price said. “When you’re going good, you hit the baseball, you find holes, you make big pitches, you make great plays defensively. When you’re struggling, it seems like all those things go against you.”

The Jayhawks stormed out of the gate, and threatened to break the game open in the first.

Senior second baseman Robby Price blasted a triple to deep left and junior center fielder Brian Heere singled him home. Junior third baseman Tony Thompson worked a walk before junior left fielder Jimmy Waters ripped an RBI double to the fence in right.

But with runners on second and third and only one out, Kansas couldn’t push those runs across - letting Kansas State off the hook.

“That could have turned into a disaster for us,” Kansas State coach Brad Hill said.

And when Kansas State chipped away for three runs off of senior Cameron Selik, those runners left on base loomed even larger.

“The main thing that we emphasize is once we put up a couple of runs, you’ve got to go up and throw up a zero and keep the momentum with your team,” Selik said.

Selik gave up three more runs on three hits in the third, though none were hit especially hard. Not that it mattered. The Wildcats battered Selik for seven runs on 10 hits – both tying career highs for the righty – in 5 2/3 innings.

“I put us in a big enough hole that we weren’t able to fight all the way back,” Selik said.

The Jayhawks continued to hit the ball hard, only to let several opportunities slip away.

Kansas had the first two men reach base in the fourth, only to have a quick strikeout and a double play end the threat.

Despite a three-run rally to trim the deficit to 7-5, the Jayhawks had more for the taking.

Kansas placed runners on first and third with no outs and one run in, but the next two hitters struck out, unable to score the runners with a productive out. Even after clutch RBI hits from sophomore Zac Elgie and Robby Price, the Jayhawks left the bases loaded.

“If you don’t take advantage of every scoring opportunity you have, especially like that when you don’t have to get a base hit, you set yourself up to have to come a long way from behind,” coach Price said.

After the Wildcats tacked on three runs in the ninth to put the game away, reality had sunk in for the Jayhawks; their season will likely come to a disappointing end after tomorrow’s game against Baylor.

To coach Price and this Kansas team though, the game is far from meaningless.

“We’re not going to shut it down,” coach Price said. “If we shut it down there’ll be a new baseball coach, because my administration wouldn’t allow it. And I’ve got too much character in my dugout.”