Despite winning only one of the three games with Nebraska this weekend, the Iowa State baseball team took a step ahead in salvaging their season.

The Cornhuskers entered play ranked 19th in the nation with a record of 25-10 on the year.

The Cyclones, meanwhile, were plodding along at 13-23, including a horrid 0-15 in conference play.

That mark didn’t figure to improve much with the Huskers rolling into town, either.

After a rainout on Friday, the two teams would battle at Cap Timm Field on Saturday afternoon.

And battle they did. It appeared as though the Cyclones were headed for another lackluster defeat when the Huskers jumped out to a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth.

However, ISU responded to Nebraska’s three spot in the top half with five tallies of its own.

A pair of two-run doubles and a single gave the Cyclones their runs, as Ben Van Iderstine doubled home Mack Paciorek and Tom Wierzbicki, while Joe Siple was able to plate Jade O’Brien and Van Iderstine.

Aaron Runk later drove in the final run with a base hit, and the Cyclones enjoyed a 6-4 lead.

Once again things looked bleak as Nebraska, on the strength of poor fielding by ISU, took an 8-6 lead in the seventh.

ISU then responded by scoring three runs in its half of inning number seven. Wierzbicki was again involved, as he singled Runk home to get the home team close.

Then Van Iderstine nailed a two-run homer that gave ISU a 9-8 lead.

However, the lead was short-lived as Nebraska scored twice in the eighth and once in the ninth off losing pitcher Darin Nelson (0-2) and Josh Twedt.

Sunday afternoon featured a doubleheader that nearly turned two games into three.

In an afternoon only a fan could love, the teams battled for nearly eight hours and 26 innings while splitting a doubleheader.

The first game lasted a Big 12 record 16 innings and saw the Cyclones notch their first win in Big 12 play by a score of 6-5.

Game number two also took a little extra work, as the Huskers came out on top 9-6 in 10 innings.

Game one featured more twists and turns than a winding Iowa country road as Nebraska sped to a quick 5-0 lead after three frames.

The Cyclones roared back as they had a day earlier, however, and kept chipping away at the lead until they found themselves down 5-4 heading into the ninth.

Van Iderstine scored a leadoff single to get the rally started. He would later come around to score when Nebraska centerfielder Adam Shabala misplayed Joe Siple’s single, and the game was headed to extra innings.

For six long innings, no one dented the scoreboard. However, when the Cyclones came to the plate in the 16th, the game’s outcome would be decided.

Again, the shoddy fielding of Nebraska would come back to haunt them. Second baseman Will Bolt muffed a grounder hit by Siple with one out. Beau Hampton then moved Siple to third with a single, and Jason McNertney singled home the winning run to give ISU a sweet victory.

The second game of the twinbill was another barn-burner. The Cyclones were the quick starters this time, as they jumped out to an early 3-1 lead.

Nebraska responded to the quick start by scoring five times over four innings and taking a 9-6 lead into the eighth.

ISU scored once in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Paciorek, and then tied the game with two runs. Paciorek again came up huge with a two-out, two-run double that plated Hampton and Matt Nordby.

The Huskers scored three runs off reliever Dave Schneider in the dusk of early evening to put the game away.