Kansas University pitcher Kodiak Quick. Quick will start Wednesday's first-round game against Baylor.

Until the last Big 12 Conference baseball game of the regular season, Kansas University had no idea who its opponent would be in the Big 12 tournament opener.

Not that KU coach Ritch Price was concerned.

“People ask me who you’d like to see, who you’d like to play first,” Price said. “I think for us, we just need to get down there and continue to get outstanding starting pitching.”

Every facet of KU’s game has shown notable improvement in the last five weeks, leading to the Jayhawks’ rise from the Big 12 cellar to Wednesday’s 1 p.m. clash with Baylor at SBC Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.

But without starting pitching, a team’s success is superficial – and unreliable – at best. Last year’s KU squad could mash with the bats, but the hurlers struggled throughout, and KU subsequently didn’t qualify for the Big 12 tournament, settling for ninth place with a 7-19 conference mark.

So it was important for Price and pitching coach Steve Abney to develop quality arms to throw in the weekend Big 12 games. By mid-April, the Jayhawks (36-26 overall, 11-15 Big 12) were grooving on the mound, with the trio of Sean Land, Mike Zagurski and Kodiak Quick coming alive during the stretch run.

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The swagger spread.

“Everybody has talent when you’re in the Big 12 Conference,” outfielder Matt Baty said. “It comes down to having the confidence to play.”

KU has it now. The Jayhawks won seven of their last 11 conference games, including series victories over Kansas State, Texas and Oklahoma State – three teams that were ahead of KU in the standings when the weekend started.

Kansas University pitcher Sean Land

The Jayhawks’ defense has improved and the bats have stayed strong, but the starting pitching has gone deep enough in most games to get to closer Don Czyz and, consequently, KU has been competitive.

“Sean Land started giving us quality outings,” Price said, “and we have Zagurski and Quick. : You have a chance to win the series if you pitch well all three days.”

Kansas captured three of its last four Big 12 series, and Zagurski won a game in every one of them. Since his scheduled start against Texas Tech April 24 was rained out, Zagurski has gone 4-0 with a 3.19 ERA in conference games, striking out 31 batters in 31 innings.

Zagurski is not considered the staff ace, though. Quick, a junior transfer from Stanford, will start against Baylor Wednesday, after going 10-5 with a 3.53 ERA. Zagurski (8-4, 4.46) will pitch Thursday, and, if KU advances , Land (5-5, 4.75) would go Friday.

Thanks in part to the improved starting pitching, anything seems possible now with KU basically dead in the water just a month ago.

“We’ve been getting quality starts from all three of those guys, and they will be the three guys we use,” Price said. “Those guys have to bridge the gap and get us to Czyz late in the game so we have a chance.”

Kansas University pitcher Mike Zagurski have helped the Jayhawks go from last place in the Big 12 Conference to qualifying for the league tournament.