It has been an offensive party for the Kansas University baseball team so far this season.

The Jayhawks have recorded double digits in hits in eight of their 11 games, doing more of the same in their 13-5 victory over South Dakota State on Thursday at Hoglund Ballpark.

The biggest difference, though, was that KU first baseman Andy Scholl finally got to join the festivities at the plate.

Entering the game, Scholl had managed just one hit in 20 at-bats. He said he might have left his slump behind after getting two hits, two walks and scoring four runs Thursday.

“I started off just awful,” Scholl said. “The thing about it is we play four or five times a week, and we’ll get couple hundred at-bats a year.

“It’s a step in the right direction at least.”

It certainly was a better step than sitting on the bench like he did in the first game of the SDSU series. KU coach Ritch Price said he sat Scholl in an attempt to make him more comfortable after a difficult series against Stanford.

“He was swinging at balls outside of the zone,” Price said. “That’s when you know it’s getting to someone mentally, when you see them swinging at balls at their eyes. I deliberately didn’t play him yesterday to give him a chance to relax.”

Price said he was pleased to see Scholl improve at the plate because he needed him to compliment some of his heavy hitters, like Matt Baty and Ritchie Price.

Kansas University senior Andy Scholl is congratulated by teammates after scoring a run against South Dakota State during the third inning. Scholl broke out of an early-season slump, going 2-for-3 with four runs and an RBI in Thursday afternoon's 13-5 victory at Hoglund Park.

But SDSU did enough on its own to help KU score runs that the Jayhawks could have waited another day for Scholl to start hitting.

The Jackrabbits committed four errors in the first four innings, three of which came from third baseman Tyson Fisher, who either couldn’t handle ground balls, couldn’t make the throw, or both.

Fisher’s worst error came in the fourth inning, which proved to be the pivotal inning with the score tied at 4-all.

The runs started rolling in for the Jayhawks when Price singled to center field to score Scholl, who had hit a triple. With two outs and catcher Sean Richardson aboard, Gus Milner hit a grounder to Fisher for what looked like a certain out, but he made a poor throw to first to keep the inning alive.

Mike Dudley was able to bring Richardson home with a single to left field and put KU up by three.

The Jayhawks put the game out of reach with a five-run fifth inning that was punctuated by a Baty home run over the left-field wall that scored two.

6Sports video: KU baseball defeats South Dakota State

KU’s offensive production was well-timed, as it was only after the third inning that Price said starting pitcher Sean Land began to settle down.

“I thought he was shaky. I thought he has too good of stuff to get hit as hard he got hit today,” Price said.

Land gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings, nearly all of which came before the third inning. It didn’t help Land that KU experienced some defensive sloppiness of its own.

Kansas University junior Ritchie Price attempts to slide under the tag of South Dakota State infielder Tony Lane during the third inning. Price was 3-for-4 with a run and four RBIs in the Jayhawks' 13-5 victory Thursday afternoon at Hoglund Ballpark.

SDSU’s Tim Hanigan laid down a bunt with runners on first and second. KU third baseman threw the ball to first for the force, but it hit Hanigan and all runners were safe.

The Jackrabbits scored two runs that inning after the error. It was one of two errors KU would make.

“I thought the two defensive mistakes we made were sloppy,” Price said. “We just have to be patient as a coaching staff while we go through those mistakes.”

But, otherwise, it mostly was a clean game for the Jayhawks, who improved to 8-3. KU will finish its series against SDSU today with a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.