Rebounding from a tough weekend series, the Iowa State baseball team defeated Truman State at Cap Timm field yesterday, 5-1. The Cyclones, dealing with a stiff wind blowing out of the west, managed to record seven hits including a home run by junior third baseman Bill Uelmen, en route to the victory. Iowa State improves its overall record to 9-14 in the season.

“The wind was really tough, it was a great equalizer today, I thought. We hit some balls hard and they just died. I thought our defense played very well and we got solid pitching out of our guys,” Head Coach Lyle Smith said.

Making his first appearance since the Wichita State series, sophomore Sam Blahnik opened the game on the mound for the Cyclones. ISU center fielder Mike Bahun led off the contest with a bunt single to get things started for ISU. The speedy senior stole consecutive bases to provide the first scoring threat of the game. Senior catcher Guye Senjum knocked in the run with a sacrifice fly to give the Cyclones an early lead.

“We gave Sam an opportunity today, he was a little nervous in the early going but he settled down,” Smith said.

Truman State came back in its half of the second to even the score with a solo home run by Tony Vandemore. Iowa State responded with a home run of their own in the bottom of the second as Uelmen took a fast ball deep over the left field fence to again give the Cyclones a one run lead.

“I was looking pretty much fast ball on the first pitch. Usually I’ve been thinking home run, but I decided to go more for average than power and I got one,” Uelmen said.

Junior pitcher Shawn Sedlacek entered the game for the Cyclones in the fourth and was able to hold down the Truman State bats, getting the win to improve his record to 1-3 on the season.

“I thought Shawn Sedlacek did a good job, he made some mechanical adjustments and kept the ball down,” Smith said.

Both teams were held scoreless during the third, fourth and fifth innings as they battled the wind and tough pitching. Right fielder Clark Jones, Uelmen and second baseman Brian Bohannon were the only Cyclone batters to record hits during that span.

“Defensively we turned some double plays and I thought that was good. It was a very tough day to play outfield, I thought somebody might misplay one but we did a good job,” Smith said

The Cyclones came to life in the sixth inning as they scored two runs to take a 4-1 lead. The Truman State pitcher struggled as he hit both Freshman Aaron Runk and Senjum to put the first two batters on. Runk stole second and Jones recorded an RBI single to plate the run. An error by the shortstop allowed Uelmen to reach base safely and Senjum to score. ISU threatened as they had a runner in scoring position, but were unable score the run.

Junior pitcher Scott Grawe was brought in in the seventh and pitched two solid innings to keep the Truman State bats quiet. Unable to bring in a run in the seventh, the Cyclones sent seven batters to the plate in the eighth as they scored another run to bring the score to 5-1. Jones led off the inning with a walk and promptly stole second to move into scoring position. Junior first baseman Matt McDonough then came through with an RBI single to score Jones. Iowa State again threatened as they had the bases loaded on a series of walks to Bohannon and senior shortstop Rob Ipsen, but were unable to capitalize as Truman State worked its way out of the inning.

“We had pretty good hits per run production. The home run picked us up and got us going. We were trying to manufacture some runs because it was a tough day today, we tried to bunt and move people up to score some runs,” Smith said.

With a solid four-run lead, Coach Smith brought in junior closer Steve Larkin in the ninth to slam the door on the Truman State batters and preserve the win for the Cyclones.

Iowa State continues its current home stand as they take on the Baylor Bears on Mar. 29 and 30 at Cap Timm field. The Cyclones will play a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday.