March Madness has taken over Lawrence, Kan., as it does every year with the Jayhawks basketball team.

There’s even a "Fab Four" on campus but it’s not in the sport Kansas is most known for.

That’s the title senior Kaiana Eldredge has dubbed for the four Hawaii kids who play significant roles for the Jayhawks baseball team, which is off to its best start in a decade.

Kansas (14-5) is No. 18 in this week’s Collegiate Baseball poll with Eldredge and juniors Michael Suiter, Robert Kahana and Justin Protacio helping lead the way.

"The Fab Four we’re enjoying it," said Eldredge, a 2010 Punahou alumnus.

It’s not all that uncommon for four Hawaii kids to play on the same collegiate team. There are eight colleges this year with at least four players who graduated from local high schools.

What is rare is how integral a part of the team all four guys are at a school like Kansas in a conference as tough as the Big 12.

Eldredge is the team’s starting catcher and is hitting .302 in 16 games.

Protacio, the starting shortstop, is hitting .333 in the leadoff spot for the Jayhawks and is currently second in the conference with 20 runs scored.

Suiter, who plays mostly left field, bats third in the lineup and is third on the team with 12 RBIs while maintaining a .286 batting average.

Kahana has developed into a weekend starter in his third year with the Jayhawks and is coming off his first complete game against Texas. The right-hander has a 3.56 ERA in five starts, averaging more than six innings per outing.

"It’s just unreal you know," said Protacio, a 2011 Mid-Pacific alumnus. "Playing on the biggest stage in college baseball with three other local guys you can turn to when things get rough is just a dream come true."

So how did it all come together at a place like Kansas?

Eldredge insists it was by chance. The first of the four to play at Kansas, Eldredge used connections his father, Dave, who was coaching at Southern Utah, had to get noticed by different schools.

He said he met Kansas coach Ritch Price at a baseball camp in Kona and had an in-home visit that made up his mind for him.

"It was all because of him," Eldredge said. "I came here because of coach Price."

Eldredge played with another Hawaii product, Iolani alum Wally Marciel, for two years at Kansas and gave Price an idea of the talent that comes out of the islands.

Protacio, Suiter and Kahana were part of a talented 2011 class that included Nevada’s Kewby Meyer, Hawaii’s Kaeo Aliviado and Lawrence Chew, Oklahoma State’s Tim Arakawa, San Jose State’s Kalei Contrades and Pepperdine’s Kolten Yamaguchi.

Price got Protacio and Kahana to commit after watching them play at the Arizona Fall Classic.

The only one left was Suiter, who was on his way to Santa Clara before the Broncos coach got fired.

Eldredge then did his part to make it happen.

"I was kind of the instigator to get him here," said Eldredge, who was a teammate with Suiter at Punahou. "I told Skip about him and then (Suiter) ended up here."

Protacio was the only one of the four not to get drafted out of high school.

Part of that can be blamed on his 5-foot-5 stature, but it hasn’t hindered him at the Division I level.

He’s successfully made the move from second to shortstop this season with his batting average increasing 66 points. He’s hit three doubles and two triples and scored a team-high 20 runs while drawing seven walks for an on-base percentage of .379.

"My role of being a scrapper on the team and getting on base, however I can, has gotten a little better," Protacio said. "If I can get on it’s big because we’ve got some guys behind me who can really swing it."

Suiter is one of those guys with a career .277 average and six home runs.

The Jayhawks won their first series at Texas since 1996, beating the 10th-ranked Longhorns twice to open Big 12 play.

Kansas, which is also receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll, was picked to finish second-to-last in the Big 12.

Instead, with an RPI of 33, the Jayhawks are in position to make an NCAA regional.

"Honestly, it’s a bit of a surprise, especially because we have basically a brand new infield," Protacio said. "We’re taking it game-by-game though and not getting ahead of ourselves."

All four are eligible for the draft this summer. Eldredge, picked in the 48th round out of high school by the Cincinnati Reds, wasn’t selected last year, but still has aspirations to play pro ball.

"We had been talking to some people about money situations and things like that but it didn’t happen and I wanted to go back to school and give back to coach Price by coming back for a fourth year," Eldredge said. "Ultimately I’m happy that it has gone this way but obviously the goal is to get drafted this year. I’m just looking for an opportunity to play."