In Tuesday’s 2-0 victory against the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Cyclones’ offense struggled, but their defense made up for that.

Against the Hawkeyes, the Iowa State pitching and defense played one of its best games of the season. The Cyclones held the Hawkeyes to zero runs off of two hits and had no errors en route to a victory.

Tuesday’s matchup marked the 80th time the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes have met and Iowa State now leads the rivalry series against the Hawkeyes 42-36-2.

Senior pitcher Savannah Sanders made the start for the Cyclones in the circle. She went four innings, allowing no runs off of two hits and one strikeout.

In the fifth inning, senior pitcher Emma Hylen came into the game for Sanders and held Iowa to zero runs off of zero hits. She had two strikeouts.

Sanders received credit for the win while Hylen earned the save.

Along with allowing no runs, the Cyclones had a perfect fielding percentage against the Hawkeyes.

Against the Hawkeyes, senior first baseman Sally Woolpert led the team with seven putouts. Junior third baseman Logan Schaben led the Cyclones in the field in assists with four and made a key out in the bottom of the fifth inning which prevented a Hawkeye from scoring a run.

With this shutout, Iowa State has now allowed eight runs in their last five games, which have all been victories.

The Cyclones have given up an average of 1.5f runs in their last five matchups. Tuesday’s shutout against the Hawkeyes is the third of the season for the Cyclones with two previous shutouts coming against the Marshall Thundering Herd in the Holy City Showdown and against the Boston Terriers in the Easton Invitational.

Iowa State now has a record of 23-15 (1-5 Big 12). The Cyclones have already reached their win total from last season (23) with 15 games remaining this season.

The Cyclones will head back to Ames this weekend to host the 14th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowgirls. Their first game of the three-game series will be on Friday at 4 p.m. at Cyclone Sports Complex.