Offensive woes continued for the ISU baseball team last weekend as the Cyclones batted a meager .162 while dropping three straight to Southeast Missouri State at Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Iowa State fell to 3-7 on the season as the Cyclone offense was only able to tally a total of eight runs in the series.

“We did some things that we need not do on offense,” ISU head coach Lyle Smith said. “We spent all week trying to identify things we needed to work on, but we had some backward K’s where guys took the third strike looking, and that’s just not very good. We were pretty tentative at the plate, [and] we have to minimize our mistakes and go up there with a good plan of attack.”

The hitting problem reached its low point for the Cyclones in the opener of Sunday’s double header. After getting trounced by the Indians 11-4 on Saturday, Iowa State was held to one hit by SEMO pitchers Dan Huesgen and Augie Casson as the ‘Clones were blanked 4-0.

“It was embarrassing,” Cyclone left fielder Aaron Runk said. “I’ve never seen a Big 12 baseball game where a team’s been one-hit.”

Freshman Brian Somoza came up with ISU’s lone hit when he singled off of Huesgen in the top of the fifth inning. The Cyclones’ lack of production wasted another strong outing from ISU pitcher Charly Bigwood.

Bigwood hurled his second consecutive complete game after opening the season as a closer, surrendering three earned runs on 10 hits and striking out seven while not allowing a walk. He currently has a sparkling 2.11 ERA and has recorded 13 strikeouts against just one walk in 21 and 1/3 innings pitched.

The Cyclones then dropped the night cap 4-3 in seven innings. Iowa State spotted the Indians three runs in the second inning before responding with a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to even things up. Runk and freshman Joe Ferin came up with back-to-back-one out singles to ignite the sixth inning rally with Runk eventually scoring on a SEMO error and Ferin crossing the plate after an RBI single from ISU third sacker Robert Conway.

The Cyclones would come away empty in the top of the seventh, however, leaving the door open for the Indians to grab the victory. And that’s exactly what happened.

Darin Kinsolving led off the bottom half of the inning with a single and was replaced by pinch runner Kenneth Gaebler, who eventually scored on a wild pitch from ISU reliever Mark Hanrahan.

The Cyclones now must overcome their lackluster performance in Missouri as they prepare to take on fifth ranked Texas in Austin next weekend opening conference play. According to Smith, Iowa State must continue working on their offensive deficiencies if they are to have any chance against the powerful Longhorns.

“We’re going to face some very quality pitching, [and] it’s going to be a hostile environment down there,” Smith said. “We’ve just got to play to capability and make things happen.”