After starting out strong, the Cyclone baseball team is heading to Louisiana to face SW Louisiana and Iowa in tournament action.

The Cyclones (4-3) will play SW Louisiana today at 3 p.m.

Despite the Cyclones dropping their last three games, Head Coach Lyle Smith said he believes “we’ve made some strides.”

“I really thought that as a goal, we’d go 2-2, but we came out 1-3,” he said of the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., last weekend. “We were in every ballgame that we lost; we didn’t do some of the things defensively, offensively and pitching-wise that we should have.”

Smith cited the caliber of the opposition as one of the factors contributing to the team’s recent losses.

“We weren’t playing chopped liver,” he said, noting that Arkansas was previously ranked.

Texas-San Antonio, a team that ISU beat 10-9 last Friday, gave the Cyclones their first loss of the season Saturday, 8-3, and kept the Cyclone bats at bay during the game.

Pitcher Mike Laesch registered the loss (0-1).

Arkansas then beat ISU 10-4 later that afternoon, holding the Cyclones to six hits during the game.

Mack Paciorek led ISU, going 2-4 and scoring one run.

Adam Runk also contributed to the cause, knocking in a pair of runs in the fifth inning with a two-out single.

The Cyclones capped the weekend with an 18-7 loss to the Razorbacks Sunday afternoon.

Runk led the team with a 4-for-5 performance. He scored one run and tallied one RBI. Tom Wierzbicki went 3-for-5, with 2 RBI, while Jade O’Brien was 2-for-4 with two RBI.

Both Wierzbicki and O’Brien earned all-tournament honors.

Smith said his team is ready to face the opposition this weekend.

“We’ve got to gear up a little bit; we’ve got to get ready for this conference,” he said. “Everbody’s good in the Big 12, and this trip this weekend will be a good test.”

However, Smith said the game against the Hawkeyes is key for the Cyclones.

“I don’t think anybody needs to explain just how important that game is to us,” he said.

In the season opener Feb. 6, the Cyclones trampled Air Force 18-10 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

ISU won its next two games against the Falcons, 17-12 and 17-16.

Smith is optimistic about the Cyclones’ chances this year, although he noted that the team “lost a lot of run production from last year.”

“We know our offense is going to need a little more motion,” he said.

However, Smith said he believes this year’s team is stronger defensively, and he admires their “athleticism.”

“We have a number of talented arms,” Smith said, noting that Maurice Watkins and Laesch, the newest pitching recruits, are promising players but will need to adjust to playing collegiate baseball.

“They’ll have to make an adjustment,” he said. “To play on this level, you have to be able to step up your games.”

As for the team’s aspirations, Smith said the number-one goal is to qualify for the Big 12 tournament.

“I think that we’ll be a better club at the end of the season,” he said. “We have to continue to improve.

“It’s a long season; it’s different from football, where you play 11 games in one season,” he said. “We may play 11 games in one week, every season has its peaks and valleys, but as a program, you’d like to see more peaks than valleys.”