Palo Alto, Calif. ? After a sunny five-game series at Hawaii-Hilo, Kansas University’s baseball squad hopes to stay hot in a three-game series starting tonight at No. 8 Stanford.

The Jayhawks (4-1) and Cardinal (3-0) will play at 7 tonight, then at 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond.

Facing tough nonconference foes on the road hasn’t been a huge problem in the Ritch Price era at KU. The last time Kansas played a road nonconference series against a top-ten program was in 2003 – Price’s first season at KU – when the Jayhawks swept then-No. 6 LSU in Baton Rouge, La.

The Jayhawks had better get used to being the road underdog. Right before its usually tough Big 12 Conference slate begins, KU will travel March 10-12 for a three-game series against Clemson, currently ranked No. 5 in the Collegiate Baseball Top 25 and No. 1 by Baseball America.

Junior left-hander Sean Land will start tonight’s game against Stanford. Land (1-0, 1.80 earned-run average) allowed just one run in five innings pitched against Hawaii-Hilo. In 2005, Land, a Greenwood, Mo., native, was 5-5 with a 4.62 ERA.

He also has had success in big games. Land beat then-No. 2 Texas on May 6, 2005, allowing just one run in five innings.

Junior right-hander Greg Reynolds (0-0, 1.35) will go tonight for the Cardinal. In 22 appearances last season, Reynolds was 2-3 with a 5.08 ERA. He started just five games but struck out 51 batters in 511â3 innings.

KU senior right-hander Ricky Fairchild (1-0, 1.80) is penciled to start Saturday, and senior righty Kodiak Quick (1-0, 1.29) should go Sunday.

After visiting Stanford, KU will travel Feb. 17-19 to Los Angeles for the Public Storage Classic. There, the Jayhawks will play USC, San Diego and Vanderbilt.