The Iowa State baseball team has had a rough past four games, dropping to Iowa on Thursday, 6-5, splitting a twin bill on Saturday with Oral Roberts, 8-7, 0-4, falling to Oral Roberts on Sunday by a tally of 8-7.

The matchup with the Hawkeyes took place at the home field of the Iowa Cubs, Sec Taylor Stadium in Des Moines, giving neither team the home field advantage.

A large crowd of 876 fans were on hand to see the rivalry in which the Cyclones were out-hit, 9-11, which proved to the deciding factor.

Iowa State junior outfielder Clark Jones was the biggest stick for Iowa State, racking up two hits for the Cyclones, including a home run.

But it was the power of Iowa’s John Astwalt who put the ‘Clones away with a three-run homer in the fourth inning to give the Hawks a 5-3 lead.

Iowa State answered with a run in the sixth and seventh innings, but couldn’t hold the Hawkeye offense from answering with the game winning run in eighth inning.

“They [Iowa] capitalized on some mistakes and there were some situations that we didn’t handle well. We really put ourselves behind the eight ball,” said ISU Head Baseball Coach Lyle Smith.

The Cyclones then packed up for Tulsa, Okla., for three games with Oral Roberts University.

On Saturday, the Cyclones jumped out early to grab a 5-0 lead in the third inning. A couple of Golden Eagle errors led to the Cyclones scoring two more runs in the fifth inning.

Oral Roberts came charging back on junior pitcher Dan Prehn, who only allowed four runs on eight hits in eight innings of work. Two of ORU’s runs were not earned.

The Eagle rally was on until ISU senior Chris Allen came in to close the door on Oral Roberts with a strikeout to end the game, 8-7.

“We did well. We jumped out and won a game that we should,” Smith said.

The Cyclone offense struggled then in the second game of the twin bill, while Cyclone sophomore pitcher Ryan Seifert tossed a solid game, allowing four runs on nine hits in six innings of work.

But Seifert’s record dropped to 3-2 as the Cyclones were blanked, 4-0.

“Seifert pitched well, but we couldn’t get it going. Overall, I think all the pitchers have been pitching pretty well, but the player just get tight. They get so concerned with winning, they sometimes forget about what they’re supposed to do,” Smith said.

On Sunday, Oral Roberts’ late inning comeback secured an 8-7 victory over the Cyclones.

Iowa State freshman infielder Matt Faulken got things going for the Cyclones with a home run in the second inning, while senior Darrin DeRue had a two-run triple in the fifth inning, which brought the ISU lead to 6-1.

Oral Roberts would answer with a five runs in the next three innings, including a game-tying home run by ORU’s Diego Rodriguez.

In the ninth, DeRue drove in Cyclone junior Mike Bahun to give ISU a one-run edge.

“It befuddles me. We beat two top 25 teams. We beat Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and then we beat Kansas here. We go down to UNI and fall flat on our face. The kids have the ability, but seem to rise to the level of competition. Really, we probably shouldn’t have even been on the same field with Oral Roberts, but then we drop two. We just have a hard time hanging onto a lead,” Smith said.

The Golden Eagles then completed the rally with two runs to win the game, 8-7.

Iowa State (14-23) will next play host to Iowa at Cap Timm field on Tuesday at 3 p.m.