The Cyclone baseball team hosted the St. Olaf Oles in single-game action Thursday at Cap Timm Field. Coming off consecutive victories against Northern Iowa, the Cyclones downed the Oles 10-2, to bring their winning streak to three games and improve their overall record to 14-20.

A combination of solid pitching and timely hitting proved to be too much for visiting St. Olaf.

“We came out the first and second innings and did some things, then we struggled a bit making adjustments with a little different type of pitching staff, but I was very pleased with the way we came out and played today,” Head Coach Lyle Smith said.

Ace Ryan Seifert took the mound for the Cyclones and shut down the Oles in the first inning. Jumping on St. Olaf early, ISU scored one in the top of the first. Senior center fielder Mike Bahun was hit by a pitch and immediately stole second, his 18 stolen base of the year, to put the Cyclones in scoring position. A ground-out by senior left fielder Scott Vance moved Bahun to third and an RBI ground-out by senior right fielder Clark Jones knocked in Bahun for the 1-0 lead.

Extending their lead, the Cyclones scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman second baseman Jade O’Brien tripled to left-center to open the inning for ISU. Senior shortstop Rob Ipsen walked and Bahun was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Beating out a fielders-choice, freshman designated-hitter Aaron Runk brought in O’Brien for ISU’s second run. Junior first baseman Shawn Leimbek shot a single to right field to bring in Ipsen and Bahun, giving the Cyclones a 4-0 lead after two innings.

Seifert had settled into a groove, holding the Oles scoreless through the first three innings without any significant threats. St. Olaf was able to adjust and scored two runs in the top of the fourth. A costly Cyclone error enabled St. Olaf to get things started. Consecutive singles and a sacrifice fly plated the runs for the Oles, cutting the ISU lead to two. Seifert settled down and the Cyclone defense held the Oles scoreless in the fifth.

“I was concerned when the game was 4-2 that we would go into a defensive fog that has been characteristic of the season, but we fought through that and when we got the 7-3 lead I thought the game was over,” Smith said.

Bringing in a new pitcher in the third inning, St. Olaf was able to hold the Cyclones scoreless for two innings as they chipped away at the ISU lead, but the Cyclones came back to score three in the bottom of the fifth inning. O’Brien walked and Ipsen singled to put runners at first and second. Bahun walked and Runk came through with a clutch two-out triple to the left-center field gap, scoring all three Cyclone base runners.

“Aaron Runk supplied the spurt with the triple and played very well. Aaron is doing a great job as a freshman,” Smith said.

The Cyclone offense continued to put up runs as Jones belted a deep solo home run over the left-field fence to extend the ISU lead to six runs, at 8-2. The home run was Jone’s eighth of the season.

Junior pitcher Brad Waldron entered in the seventh in relief of Seifert, who left after allowing only four hits, striking out four and walking one in six innings of work. Waldron and the ISU defense held the Oles scoreless in the inning.

“Last Tuesday was one of those days and I just didn’t feel real good and I was making some bad pitches and they burned me for it. Today it was nice to go out and get a little confidence back. My focus was basically to come out and put up some zeros and I should be able to shut down a team like this,” Seifert said.

The ISU bats continued to come through with two outs as Bahun singled sharply up the middle and stole second base for his second steal of the game. Runk then belted his second triple of the game to the left-center field gap to score Bahun and bring the score to 9-2.

Holding the Oles scoreless again in the eighth, the Cyclones were in control coming to the plate with a seven-run lead, but that wasn’t enough as pinch-hitter Matt McDonough tripled to center for another scoring opportunity. Senior Chris Grubb singled to left field, driving in McDonough for an eight-run advantage with St. Olaf only having one at-bat left.

“Guys came up with some good hits off the bench, Matt McDonough and Chris Grubb, for example, came up and got base hits so that’s good for their confidence,” Smith said.

Junior pitcher Steve Larkin entered in the top of the ninth to close the door on the Oles and preserve the 10-2 victory for the Cyclones.

Runk led the Cyclones at the plate going 2-for-4 with two triples and five RBIs. Jones also went 2-for-4 with a home run, an RBI and a run scored. Leimbek went 2-for-5 with three RBIs.

Getting the win for ISU was Seifert who pitched six innings giving up four hits, and striking out four.

The victory improved Seifert’s record to 4-5 on the season.

“We’re starting to come around a bit, but we’ve had these stretches too when we put together two, three, four in a row, then go on the skids. It’s important this weekend because these are teams that we should be able to beat. If we get on a little roll it will help us,” Seifert said.

The Cyclones host Rockhurst on Saturday, April 19 at Cap Timm Field for a double header. Competition begins at noon.