Kansas University baseball coach Ritch Price said he’s trying to remain as positive as he can this season. But the Jayhawks didn’t give him much to be excited about Sunday after they were shelled in a 14-4 loss to Baylor at Hoglund Ballpark.

The Jayhawks dropped two of their three games against Baylor last weekend and have lost four of their last five.

The Bears (19-28, 8-13 Big 12) were led by sophomore designated hitter Darryn Sheppard, who hit his first two home runs of the season. His first was a three-run shot in the second inning against KU right-hander Sean Rackoski, drilling an 0-2 pitch over the wall in left-center.

Sheppard, who entered Sunday with just two RBIs in 29 games this year, added a two-run homer in the seventh inning off reliever Hayden Edwards, turning on an inside fastball to pull it over the left-field wall.

Baylor added three runs in the fourth and ninth innings, and sophomore Aaron Dobson hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning.

“If you leave the ball elevated, you’re going to get crushed,” Price said. “The positive thing for us, those guys have talent. They’re just pitching before they should be on the field.”

Rackoski was solid in his first Big 12 start last week against West Virginia, but the 6-foot-7 sophomore couldn’t get away with a few of his mistakes, despite strong velocity on his fastball.

“He just wasn’t able to finish a hitter today,” Price said. “To their credit, once he got behind in a count, they were on time with the fastball, even when it was 91-93 (mph). They did a really good job of taking his fastball away.”

Meanwhile, the Jayhawks (20-28, 7-11) couldn’t do much against Baylor left-hander Daniel Castano, who gave up six hits and three runs in seven innings.

“He located on both sides of the plate,” KU senior Blair Beck said. “He was really good with his off speed, and I didn’t think we stuck to our approach very good early. I think that’s what cost us — getting early outs and not extending and grinding out at-bats like we usually do.”

KU freshman Matt McLaughlin hit a leadoff single in the third inning and scored on a single from junior Tommy Mirabelli.

In the sixth inning, senior Connor McKay hit a single and scored on senior Dakota Smith’s eighth double of the year. Smith later scored on a wild pitch.

Beck added a solo home run in the eighth inning against Baylor reliever Joe Kirkland, his team-leading seventh homer this season.

“The scouting report was really good,” Beck said. “It said if he gets behind (in the count), he’s going to come in with a fastball. He did that. Thank God I didn’t miss it.”

KU will travel to Northwestern for a two-game series, beginning at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Baylor 030 310 223 — 14 14 0

Kansas 001 002 010 — 4 7 1

W — Daniel Castano, 3-5. L –Sean Rackoski, 2-4.

2B — Justin Arrington, BU; Dakota Smith, KU. HR — Darryn Sheppard (2), Aaron Dodson, BU; Blair Beck, KU.

KU highlights — Smith, 2-for-4, run, RBI; Beck, 2-for-4, run, RBI; Blake Weiman, 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.