University of Missouri
Iowa State
Baseball Falls To Iowa State, 11-6
4/2/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 31, 2000
AMES, Iowa - The Iowa State offense clicked on all cylinders, the defense committed no errors and the pitching staff kept Missouri batters guessing all afternoon. This scenario helped the Iowa State baseball team achieve its second conference win of the season with an 11-6 victory over Missouri Friday afternoon at Cap Timm Field. The win improved ISU to 8-18 overall and 2-8 in Big 12 play, while Missouri falls to 17-11 overall and 5-5 in league games.
The story of the game was the timely hitting of the Cyclone bats, who generated the most runs (11) and hits (15) in a conference game this season. Senior Jade O'Brien led the way by driving in four runs on a two-run triple in the first inning and a two-run home run in the fourth inning. His blast in the fourth hit the top of the scoreboard in rightfield at Cap Timm.
"We finally clicked today and we have been waiting for everybody to jump out and step up as a team," O'Brien noted. "The count was full and Hobbs (MU pitcher) left a slider up and in my zone and I just happened to guess right and drove it out."
The Cyclones took an early lead on MU by roughing up Tiger pitcher Jon Harris for four runs on five hits in the first inning. O'Brien's triple drove in two runs while Ben Van Iderstine and Aaron Runk contributed with RBI singles. ISU made it a 9-1 game in the bottom of the fourth by scoring four more runs behind two-run homers from O'Brien and Rob Conway, his fifth of the season.
While the Cyclone hitters were busy scoring runs, ISU hurler Mike Laesch was busy keeping the Tigers at bay. Laesch gave up 10 hits and six runs before being replaced early in the ninth inning by closer Josh Twedt. Laesch struckout three batters en route to the win (2-5), equalling his longest stint as a Cyclone.
The Cyclones had six extra base hits in the game, with two home runs (O'Brien and Conway), two triples (O'Brien and Beau Hampton) and two doubles (Runk and Conway). Ryan Wickham and Ben Van Iderstine also had productive days at the plate, registering three hits each.
"We tried to challenge them to come out and play loose and swing the bats well," ISU head coach Lyle Smith said. "It was great to see the guys make the clutch hits like they did today. We got great leadership from Runk and O'Brien and we did the little things right on the field."
Harris was the losing pitcher (2-3), surrendering nine hits and seven runs in 3 1/3 innings of work for the Tigers. Ryan Stegall and Jon Williams collected two hits each to lead MU on offense. Nick Wilfong, Wes Fewell and Mick Weiss hit home runs for the Tigers, but they were all solo shots.
The teams square off again tomorrow in a 1 p.m. start at Cap Timm Field.
Missouri 000 121 011 - 6 10 2
Iowa State 410 401 01x - 11 15 0
Missouri- Harris, Hobbs (4), McGinnis (4), Ackerson (8) and Williams
Iowa State- Laesch, Twedt (9) and Wickham
HR: ISU, O'Brien (3), Conway (5): MU, Wilfong (5), Fewell (1), Weiss (2)
W-Laesch (2-5), L-Harris (2-3), Save-None
A: 324, T: 2:45
