The Iowa State baseball team managed to split its Senior Day doubleheader with Missouri on Saturday at Cap Timm Field, but not without a late scare in the nightcap.

Entering the top of the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead, Cyclone Coach Lyle Smith brought in super-closer Steve Larkin to close the deal. But after Larkin retired MU left fielder Nick Wilfong on a ground ball, trouble began.

With two outs, Larkin walked two of the next three batters to put runners on first and second base. Tiger right fielder Ryan Fry then stepped to the plate, representing the go-ahead run. Fry had already slugged three home runs in the series, and for a moment, it looked as if he would hit another when he crushed a line drive into deep left field.

But Cyclone sophomore Aaron Runk had other plans. The left fielder tracked Fry’s drive to the warning track and made a remarkable catch just before running into the wall. In doing so, he preserved ISU’s 3-1 victory. Justin Stine (5-4) took the loss for Missouri while Larkin notched his fourth save.

“I was real pleased that we won the game for the seniors so they could leave Cap Timm Field with a taste of victory,” Smith said.

Senior pitcher Shawn Sedlacek (6-6) picked up the victory with a stellar performance. The right hander from Cedar Rapids pitched eight innings, giving up just one run on eight hits while striking out a season-high eight batters.

Smith said that Sedlacek was strong enough to pitch in the ninth frame, but already had thrown 136 pitches, the most any ISU hurler had tossed in a game this season.

“I thought Shawn Sedlacek pitched a whale of a game today,” Smith said. “He’s got an opportunity maybe to play professional baseball, and I’m not going to diminish his chances by overthrowing him.”

Sedlacek threw a steady diet of curveballs and off-speed pitches to the Tiger batters and did a masterful job with runners on base, stranding 10 of them.

Sedlacek said, “Whenever [runners get on base] you just have to throw strikes and hopefully your defense will pick you up. And they did all day.

“It was a great way to leave, I guess. It’s kind of hard leaving here, but it’s the best way to leave.”

Sedlacek said he had “complete confidence” in Runk making the game-saving catch.

ISU dented the scoreboard in the first inning on freshman Tom Wierzbicki’s first home run of the season, a solo blast to left field. Jade O’ Brien’s second inning RBI single scored Bill Uelmen to put ISU up 2-0. Griffin Moore pulled MU within one in the fifth with an RBI single of his own. But Uelmen added an insurance run for the Cyclones in his final home at-bat with a solo shot to right-center field in the eighth frame.

“My last time up I was just kind of thinking, ‘This is my last time hitting here.’ So [it was] kind of emotional. I was just glad that we ended up making that good play at the end,” Uelmen said.

It was Uelmen’s 13th home run of the season and his fourth of the series.

In Friday’s 14-9 loss to the Tigers, the senior cranked two dingers and tied a school record with seven RBI. He is now four home runs short of the Cyclone season-record of 17 set by Mike Busch in 1990.

“I felt good for Billy,” Smith said. “He ended up his career at Iowa State on a good note as well as everybody else who finished their careers here. All the seniors got an opportunity to pitch or play this weekend so that turned out well.”

If the second game of the day was a pitchers’ chess match, the first was heavy artillery.

MU pounded 17 hits and crushed five home runs, two by Fry, en route to a 16-8 win. The five long balls gave the Tigers a new school-record for home runs in a season.

Sophomore Nate Hilton started the game for ISU and was dismantled by the Tigers in the second inning, allowing five hits and six runs in the frame.

A solo homer by Aaron Wilson and RBI single by Moore extended the Tigers’ lead to 8-0, but ISU closed the gap with an electric fourth inning.

In the fourth, Tiger pitcher Jeremy Callier walked Uelmen to load the bases. O’Brien then stepped up and crushed a grand-slam over the 375-foot sign in left-center field, raising a huge roar from the 521 fans in attendance and cutting the Tiger lead in half.

It was O’Brien’s third homer of the year and his first career grand slam.

Missouri squashed the Cyclone rally, however, with four runs of its own in the fifth inning to take a commanding 12-4 lead.

Hilton (1-5) took the loss for ISU while Callier (6-4) got the win.

“Balls were jumping out this weekend,” Smith said. “It’s too bad that we didn’t pitch a little better in that first game because I thought Nate [Hilton] had good stuff in the [first] inning. Six runs just kind of took the wind out of our sails, and we never could recuperate.”

ISU ended the weekend with a 19-25 overall record (9-16 in the Big 12). Missouri improved to 33-15 and 15-11.

By losing two of three to the Tigers, ISU lost any hope of making the six-team Big 12 Tournament. Despite his disappointment, Smith said he is pleased that his squad has exceeded last season’s win total. The 1997 Cyclones went just 6-21 in Big 12 play and 17-24 overall.

Seven seniors played the final games of their careers at Cap Timm Field on Saturday: Sedlacek, Uelmen, Larkin, pitcher Jake Whitney, pitcher Jason Mathys, designated hitter Matt McDonough, and first baseman Shawn Leimbek.

Leimbek was the only senior who didn’t play in the series. He led the team with a .413 batting average before injuring his ankle last Wednesday against Iowa.

ISU closes its season this weekend with three games against Nebraska at Buck Beltzer Field in Lincoln.

“Obviously we want to do well over at Nebraska and would like to get 10, 11 or 12 [Big 12] victories,” Smith said. “Twelve victories in the conference; that would be good for a club this young.”