First-year Kansas University baseball coach Ritch Price named two of his three assistants Monday, both coming from the state of California.

Price announced Monday that Ryan Graves and Reggie Christiansen had joined the Jayhawks’ staff, leaving one spot to be filled.

Graves, who worked under Price at Cal Poly, will focus mainly on recruiting, while Christiansen joins the staff as a volunteer assistant.

Both will try to help revive a program that has finished in the cellar of the Big 12 the past two seasons.

“I’m thrilled that Ryan’s made the jump to Kansas,” Price said. “I think he’s one of the top young assistants in the nation. Reggie is a young, energetic coach. He contacted me about being the volunteer because he wanted to coach at the Div. I level.”

Graves played briefly at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles before transferring to Oklahoma State in 1995. After a short stint in the Chicago Cubs organization, he became recruiting coordinator at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, a job he left after two seasons to join Price at Cal Poly in 1999.

“I love the brand of baseball in the Big 12,” Graves said. “As far as fan support, no conference is better.”

Christiansen was head baseball coach at Menlo College in Atherton, Cal. prior to accepting the position at KU. Price coached at Menlo from 1983-86, and Christiansen played third base there in 1996 and ’97.

“I’ve been really impressed with Reggie,” Price said. “He has done a great job at Menlo.”

Price said he would fill his final coaching slot around Sept. 15.