The ISU baseball team hopes that its bats are a little more active this weekend than they were against Minnesota Wednesday night.

The Cyclones were shut out 9-0 by the Golden Gophers.

The loss dropped Iowa State to 17-22-1 on the season; it is 7-10 in the Big 12.

“We came out a little flat,” said ISU pitcher Josh Twedt. “Once we got behind it seemed like we were out of it.”

Cyclone starter Charly Bigwood took the loss for the Cyclones. While Bigwood was on the mound, six Gophers crossed home plate in five innings. Bigwood surrendered six hits.

“I never really felt good the entire night,” Bigwood said.

The Cyclone defense committed a costly error in the second inning on what would have been the final out.

Minnesota took advantage of the Cyclone miscue, scoring five runs in the bottom of the inning.

Bigwood said while the errors were frustrating, walking a couple of batters after the errors made matters worse.

“Hopefully I’ll have better stuff than I did [Wednesday] for Texas,” Bigwood explained.

The Longhorns will be coming to Ames for a weekend three-game set against the Cyclones, and Iowa State’s hopes of finishing in the top eight of the conference and advancing to the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma City could rest on this series.

The Cyclones’ 7-10 record is behind the 10-14 Missouri Tigers for the final tournament spot.

Texas boasts a 30-18 (16-8 Big 12) record and sits among the top three in the conference.

Still, the Cyclones have high hopes for this coming weekend.

“We want to win all three games,” Twedt said. “We want to be competitive in every game.”

Twedt said it will be important to cut down on errors and play solid defense because Texas plays a “short game.”

He said that the Longhorns like to bunt and put the ball on the ground and build up a lead that way.

Because of this “they are not a very good team to come from behind,” Twedt explained ,because they don’t rely on power as much.

“It’s important to get ahead,” he added.

The first game of the series will be at Cap Timm Field Friday starting at 3 p.m.