Despite having to overcome foggy weather and an early three-run deficit, the Iowa State baseball team came back to beat intra-state rival Iowa 10-6 Wednesday night at Sec Taylor Stadium in Des Moines.

Jeff Duncan led the Cyclones with five RBIs, including a three-run homer in the bottom of the third that tied the score at three apiece.

ISU skipper Lyle Smith said Duncan’s two-hit performance was “a real shot in the arm” for the Cyclones.

“He’s struggled as of late,” Smith said of his freshman right fielder. “Jeff showed signs of coming out of his slump.”

Duncan’s blast followed two singles by Aaron Runk and Tom Wierzbicki, and came off Hawkeye starter James Magrane, who had held ISU hitless in the first two frames.

In the fourth, the Cyclones erupted for five more runs on four singles and a key Iowa error.

With two on and one out, Runk slapped a solid single up the middle to score Jon Ross and put the Cyclones ahead 4-3.

After Wierzbicki was hit by a Magrane fastball to load the bases, Duncan again came through at the plate, ripping a single to center that scored Runk and Brad Bjorklund.

That hit chased Magrane, and Troy Wulf came on in relief for Iowa. He enticed Matt McDonough to ground out to short, holding Duncan and Wierzbicki at second and third.

But when ISU third baseman Bill Uelmen hit a towering pop fly over the infield, Wulf dropped it, allowing Wierzbicki to scamper home.

A subsequent wild pitch plated Duncan, who had stopped at third on Uelmen’s hit, and gave the Cyclones an 8-3 lead.

Meanwhile, ISU starter Shawn Sedlacek was cruising along.

After allowing three runs on three hits in the second and third innings, the senior fireballer shut down the Iowa lineup. He set the Hawkeyes down in order in the fourth and got Nate Frese to bounce to Uelmen in the fifth, wiping out runners at first and second.

“He pitched very well,” Smith said. “He had good velocity, and his slider kept the hitters off-balance.”

Smith noted that Sedlacek reached speeds of 90-91 miles per hour with his fastball, which frequently handcuffed the Iowa hitters.

The Cyclones padded their lead with two runs on a hit by Runk, whose line drive over third base skipped past left fielder Terry Ramsey and rolled to the wall. Runk dashed all the way to third for a standup triple, scoring Bjorklund and Jason McNertney.

In the sixth, Sedlacek turned the game over to the ISU bullpen.

Brad Waldron took the mound and “dominated,” according to Smith, as he whiffed two Hawkeyes in pitching a perfect sixth inning.

Steve Larkin, appearing in his Cyclone-record 77th game, finished it off in the seventh, despite allowing a bases-loaded, two-out double to Frese that cut the lead to 10-6.

Frese’s hit would have been just a long out, but at the last moment, right fielder Duncan slipped on the wet warning track and the ball bounced away.

But Larkin came back and got Jon Holte to fly out to Duncan for the last out of the abbreviated seven-inning game, capping a intra-state sweep for the Cyclones, who beat UNI 3-1 Wednesday afternoon.

Smith said he was never worried in the seventh, even though Frese’s double followed two walks and a single.

“There were two outs. I didn’t think the game was really in question,” he said. “I knew Steve was going to get out of the inning.”

Smith said the victory over the Hawkeyes was an important one.

“Since Iowa’s our biggest rival, I would say it is a big deal,” he said, adding that ISU now has “bragging rights in the state.”

ISU hosts Missouri in a three-game set this weekend, with one game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday.

Smith said Waldron will start Friday’s contest, with Nate Hilton throwing the first game Saturday. Smith did not specify who would take the hill for Saturday’s night-cap.