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Baseball is a big part of Ritch Price’s life.

Price, Kansas University’s new head baseball coach, not only has directed Cal Poly’s program the past eight years, but in his spare time has watched his three boys all play the sport.

Ritch Price Jr. will be a freshman shortstop on KU’s team next season.

Price, a 6-foot-2, 170-pounder out of San Luis Obispo (Calif.) High, originally signed with his dad’s Cal Poly team, but has been released from his letter of intent.

The switch-hitting Price hit .457 last season. Playing about 100 games last summer for the Firestone Rangers, Price hit .352 with 11 home runs, 85 RBIs and 63 stolen bases.

“He can really tick it,” the elder Price said of his son’s hitting ability. “Ritchie is one of the top fielding shortstops in the state. He had a tremendous summer with the Firestone Rangers and continues to develop as he physically matures.”

As a high school sophomore, Ritch Jr. played for the Tigers’ CIF-Southern Section Division II championship team. The section title game was played at Dodger Stadium. Also, his Babe Ruth summer team went to the World Series when he was 15.

This summer, Ritch Jr. is again playing for the Firestone Rangers. He’s joined by his brother, Ryne, who plays both catcher and second base. Ryne, who is 16 and will be a high school junior at either Free State or Lawrence High next school year, hit .300 last season, starting at second next to his brother at San Luis Obispo.

He’s a left-handed hitter with power.

“He’s very strong,” his mom, Cindy, said of Ryne, who stands 5-foot-10. “He’s focused on baseball but also loves the contact of football (at defensive back, long snapper, punt returner).”

Meanwhile, Robby Price is 14 and plays shortstop for the Babe Ruth team in San Luis Obispo. He’s a left-handed-hitting shortstop who has made his summer league’s all-star team. He’ll be a ninth grader at one of Lawrence’s junior highs next year.

The children, it seems, don’t mind leaving California for Lawrence.

“They are pretty excited about it,” Cindy Price said. “We are all sad to leave the friends we’ve made and hoping we stay in touch with all of them. I was able to visit Lawrence (last week). It looked like a great community. There are a lot of similarities with the town we’re in. Our city is 45,000, a college town with the one downtown street.”

The family is in for a shock weather-wise, compared to California.

“We are focusing on the warmth of the summer and beautiful evenings you have there. Fortunately baseball,” she said, “isn’t played in December and January.”

Recruiting: KU coach Price is known as a strong recruiter. In fact, he’s headed to a baseball showcase event in Stanford, Calif., this weekend. He’ll be wearing a KU hat that’s been shipped to him.

“There are still some good players out there now,” said Price, who has about one scholarship remaining of KU’s allotment of 11.7. “We’ll try to find every player that is up to the task who may be interested in Kansas.”

Ballpark improvements in future?: KU’s Hoglund Ballpark is known as one of the least impressive in the Big 12.

Price isn’t discounting making stadium improvements in the future.

“We just built a $3 million stadium on our campus that is absolutely gorgeous,” said Price, who helped raise the money for that stadium at Cal Poly. “One of the things I’ve been very successful in my career … every place I’ve been, I have a reputation of being a very good fund-raiser, and being very good with alumni . The first thing we have to do (here) is win. If we can take a step in that direction, the people will rally around the program and alumni will get excited. My first focus is going to be recruiting players who can compete in the Big 12.”