Hopefully gaining some momentum going into an important three-game conference series this weekend against Kansas State, the ISU baseball team beat down St. Ambrose Tuesday, 12-1, to up its season record to 11-28.

The Cyclones opened up their often-weak bats against the Bees, scoring 12 runs on the strength of third baseman Joe Urban’s four RBIs, including two doubles. St. Ambrose, on the other hand, was ineffective against ISU righty Darrin Nelson, who scattered 10 hits over nine innings to pick up his first win of the season.

The Cyclones did most of their scoring early, putting eight runs on the board by the end of the fourth.

They got things started in the second inning, racking up four runs, marked by centerfielder Joe Ferin’s single to center which scored Urban and second baseman Beau Hampton.

After two more in the third, Iowa State struck again in the fourth, manufacturing four runs on only three hits. Urban and senior Jade O’Brien both picked up sacrifice flies to move the lead to 10-0.

It was all downhill from there, as the Cyclones added insurance runs in the fifth and eighth, which proved unnecessary as the Bees could only muster one touch in the sixth.

The blowout was a nice change of pace for Lyle Smith’s charges, as they were swept in Waco, Texas, last weekend by Baylor, 6-0, 4-0 and 2-1. The Cyclones only managed one run in 27 innings against the Bears and had only been shut out three times all season before putting up two complete-game goose eggs against the ninth-ranked conference powerhouse.

Smith said he was impressed by his pitchers in Texas, as Iowa State got three solid complete game performances from Linclon Mincks, Mike Laesch and Brian Curtin, especially Mincks and Laesch, who only gave up six and five hits, respectively, against a potent offense.

“We pitched very well against the No. 9 team in the country,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t do enough offensively to come out with a win.”

The difference between the St. Ambrose game and the painful Baylor series was simply the quality of pitching, Smith said.

“They threw out two kids, one who was 8-0, and another one who is a very quality pitcher,” he said. “We hit some balls hard, but things didn’t work out for us. We have got to keep continuing to do what we know we can do, but sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the pitcher.”

That is quite an understatement, considering the Cyclones were victims of both a no-hitter and a two-hitter during the weekend.

But Smith is hoping the big win over the Bees and a game Wednesday night against the University of Northern Iowa will help build some confidence for a three-game conference homestand against Kansas State this weekend.

“If we can carry some of that into the game against UNI and keep it going this weekend, we’ll be in good shape,” he said.

The Cyclone coach said the Saturday doubleheader against the Wildcats, which will begin at 1 p.m., and the Sunday 3:00 game with KSU, will be important conference tests for the Cyclones.

“We want to win two or three of those,” Smith said. “We know we can, we just have got to go out and do it.”