The Iowa State Cyclones (27-18, 4-8 Big 12) swept Baylor in this weekend’s series at Getterman Stadium in Waco, Texas.

Their weekend wins of 4-1, 4-0, and 4-1 moved Iowa State to fifth in the Big 12 standings.

Pitching

Pitchers Emma Hylen, Shannon Mortimer and Savannah Sanders combined to give up a total of twelve hits and two runs over the three-game series.

Only six batters for the Bears drew a walk over the series, which limited their base runners and run opportunities.

The Bears were not striking out either as the Cyclones only fanned seven batters during the series.

In game two, Sanders pitched a shutout with no strikeouts.

The strategy of pitching to contact worked well for the Cyclones in this series but as the Cyclones go forward in hopes of facing better competition in the Big 12 tournament, they will need to focus on continuing to keep the ball down in the zone to limit mistakes and runs scored.

Extra base hits

In game one of the series, the Cyclone had four extra base hits, including a two-run home run by catcher Kaylee Bosworth.

Bosworth carried that success into Saturday as she had two hits to lead the Cyclones and their three extra base hits to another victory.

In game three, the Cyclones hit four doubles.

The Cyclones are fourth in the Big 12 in doubles and triples and fifth in home runs.

Lack of a big inning

One thing that the Cyclones need to work on going forward is tying runs together.

Not only did they only score twelve runs all series, but they never had an inning of more than three runs.

That can mainly be attributed not necessarily to the amount of hits that the Cyclones but the runners that they left on base.

In total, Iowa State left 23 runners on base over the series.

In order to compete with the better teams in the Big 12, Iowa State will need to find ways to get hits with runners in scoring position consistently to drive runners in to have a big inning.