Texas A&M (35-11, 6-4 Big 12) used its offensive firepower to put the Cyclones (24-21, 2-7 Big 12) away early in the second game of the home stand for Iowa State.

Junior pitcher Rachel Zabriskie gave up five runs on five hits and only lasted two and one-third innings.

The five runs came off a two-run shot and a three-run home run from the Aggie’s designated player Sydney Shannon and left fielder Kelsey Spittler.

The Aggies were proud of the fact they hit well off of Zabriskie, who has been known to give teams difficulties down the stretch.

“It’s a big deal because she kept getting us on that outside rise-ball,” Shannon said.

“We just said, ‘Guys she’s getting us on that, don’t swing at it.’ Once we weren’t swinging at it so much, she had to give us good pitches to hit and we just chased her after that.”

Sophomore pitcher Lauren Kennewell relieved Zabriskie in the third inning and was able to alleviate the damage until the sixth inning when the Aggies rallied the dagger shot for the Cyclones, scoring four runs in the inning.

Iowa State was unable to score a run in its half of the sixth inning, so the game ended with a final score of 9-1 after six innings.

The majority of Kennewell’s appearances have been in relief, but the third inning is earlier than she normally enters the game.

“I was getting squeezed quite a bit and they weren’t being as aggressive,” Kennewell said. “In the earlier innings they were swinging at it a lot more. I didn’t want to hang anything over the plate because I wanted to keep it in the park and try to keep the runs low, but they were being really patient and that was pretty frustrating.”

The official rules state that if a team is up by eight runs after six innings, the game is over.

Iowa State’s designated player Erica Miller was responsible for the lone Cyclone run, hitting a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The No. 22 Aggies held the Cyclones to just three runs over two games as they outscored Iowa State 13-3 in the series.Freshman Aggie pitcher Melissa Dumezich, who pitched in relief in the first game, was able to keep the Cyclones off-balance with her pitching sequences.

“The pitcher seemed to throw a different sequence today, which kind of confused me at first,” Miller said. “We’re always supposed to make adjustments, but I think they just came out ready to play right away today. That confused us, too, because in the last game they took so long to score runs, so we didn’t really expect that.”

Iowa State experienced two losses this weekend in two different ways. Saturday’s game was stolen from the Cyclones in the late innings and Sunday’s game ended an inning early due to a run rule.

“I think yesterday you walk away thinking that we had that and we were right there,” said coach Stacy Gemeinhardt-Cesler. “I think that today you walk away and you don’t feel as good. I think that a loss is a loss and the sun is going to come up tomorrow and you have to go out and practice.”