Kevin Wheeler had such a great day at the plate for the Kansas baseball team Wednesday that he was showered, wearing street clothes and sitting in the stands before the eighth inning.

In fact, a half-dozen other Jayhawks joined him before the end of the game after also doing their parts in a 24-3 rout of Avila at Hoglund Ballpark.

With five games canceled because of weather, the team has spent a lot of time practicing indoors, which Wheeler found helpful.

“I felt like I needed stuff to work on,” Wheeler said. “I was glad we had that time off because I didn’t feel like I was really seeing the ball as well, so I needed that time to work and get back in the cages. I think that really helped a lot of us.”

He had a first-inning grand slam, two runs scored and six RBIs.

Seven other Jayhawks had two or more hits, including three substitutes.

“There were a lot of stars,” KU coach Bobby Randall said. “We had a lot of guys do well and I was glad to see some of the guys who hadn’t been playing much get some hits. Mission accomplished.”

Brandon Shepard tied a Kansas record with five hits against the Eagles (0-3), and added three RBIs and two runs scored.

Pat Holmes went 4-for-5 with a triple, a home run, three RBIs and four runs.

The Jayhawks’ pitching wasn’t too bad either, holding the Eagles to one hit through seven innings before Dustin Schroer allowed three runs in the eighth.

“It’s good to get all our pitchers out there,” Randall said, “and I think they did well again, other than Dustin and he really hasn’t had a chance to pitch much.

“He’s still a work in progress.”

Kansas is ranked No. 31 and riding a nine-game win streak, tying the second best streak in school history.

That run will be put to the test at 3 p.m. Friday at Hoglund Ballpark, when the Jayhawks begin a three-game series against No. 19 Texas A&M (14-3 overall, 3-0 Big 12) to open their Big 12 Conference schedule.

Kansas 24, Avila 3

Avila 000 000 030 Â 3 5 2

Kansas 503 414 07x  24 25 1

Shane McIntire, Brett Goranflo (4), Jason Crow (6), Takahiro Owaku (8), and Steven Miller, Joe Palmer (8). Randy Strann, Chris Jones (5), Kevin Wheeler (6), Ryan Jakubov (7), Dustin Schroer (8), Chris Smart (8), and Beau Thompson, Brad Gillamn (6). W Â Strann (1-0). L Â McIntire (0-2).

2B Â Avila: Chris Brown; Kansas: Adam Rachlin, Ryan Baty, Ryan Klocksien, Jason Appuhn, Kevin Wheeler, Travis Metcalf 2, Brad Gillam. 3B Â Kansas: Baty, Appuhn, Pat Holmes, Brandon Shepard. HR Â Kansas: Holmes, Wheeler.