Kansas University baseball coach Ritch Price never had seen son Ritchie blast a home run until Saturday.

Not in little league, not in high school, not in summer league. Twenty-year-old Ritchie, KU’s sophomore shortstop, hadn’t hit one at KU, either.

The wait made Ritchie’s grand slam in game one of Kansas’ doubleheader against Western Illinois that much sweeter for his proud pop.

The Jayhawks won game one, 15-1, before taking the nightcap, 8-6.

“The home runs he hit in American Legion he always hit on the road when I was out scouting, so that’s the first time I’ve seen him go around those bases,” the elder Price said. “It’s a nice reward for how hard he’s worked. He’s really a special player.”

Ritchie Price was one of many Jayhawks who delivered Saturday at Hoglund Ballpark, because Kansas (20-9-1) was fantastic in the first game. The Jayhawks pounded 14 hits, hit five home runs and never left the outcome in question.

“It seems like every weekend I throw I get a big number put up for me,” senior left-hander Ryan Knippschild said. “I think any pitcher would throw pretty well if he gets that kind of support.”

Second baseman Matt Baty led off the first inning with a double and scored on a throwing error. Catcher Sean Richardson scored on right fielder Matt Tribble’s single to left. Then third baseman Travis Metcalf bashed a two-run homer to center field.

Richardson crushed a two-run homer to right in the second that bumped the lead to 6-0.

Not that Knippschild needed much help. He sizzled on the mound all afternoon while throwing his first complete game of the year, a two-hitter. He had a no-hitter going until the fifth.

Kansas University shortstop Ritchie Price fires to first base against Western Illinois. Price belted a grand slam, helping the Jayhawks sweep a doubleheader Saturday at Hoglund Ballpark.

“After the fourth inning was over I started thinking about the no-hitter,” he said. “It seems like when I started thinking about it I ruined it. I went back out there, and the first batter hit a bomb.”

Western Illinois’ Blake Schultz led off the fifth with a solo home run to left-center field, but KU already was too far ahead.

Price’s eighth-inning grand slam, followed by Metcalf’s second home run of the game, ended any thoughts of a Leatherneck comeback.

“You talk about having that Friday-night guy, and he gives us an opportunity to win every time he walks out there,” Price said of Knippschild.

Kansas University's Ryan Knippschild fires a pitch against Western Illinois. The Jayhawks swept a doubleheader with the Leathernecks on Saturday at Hoglund Ballpark.

Game two was more of a struggle. The Jayhawks took a 1-0 lead in the first when Matt Baty scored on Ryan Baty’s ground out. Western Illinois tied it in the third when Jim Sanew scored on Clint Buchen’s single.

Kansas’ five-run third inning — capped by Travis Metcalf’s two-run double to center — gave the Jayhawks a 6-1 lead, but the Leathernecks (9-15) didn’t fold. WIU scored twice in the fourth and three more times in the sixth to tie the game at 6.

Travis Metcalf’s two-run sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth scored Ryan Baty and Jared Schweitzer and gave KU the lead for good.

The Jayhawks and Leathernecks close out their three-game series at 1 p.m. today at Hoglund Ballpark.