No. 6 Cyclones roar past Florida State in first NCBA Tournament game

Iowa State Baseball player sliding into home during the Cap Timm Classic.

Connor Ferguson

The Iowa State Cyclones are closer to history than ever before.

By winning the first game of the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) World Series, Iowa State is three wins away from taking the double-elimination tournament title.

The No. 6 Cyclones took down No. 3 Florida State on Friday morning, defeating the Seminoles 6-1 behind a dominant pitching performance by Jiahong Mi.

Mi struck out four batters through the first two innings before Iowa State took a 1-0 lead in the third inning.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth inning that Florida State would knot its first run, tying the game at one and ending Mi’s 15-inning scoreless streak.

The Cyclones were not done yet, however.

In the top of the eighth inning, Alex Hinke and Ricky Perez earned an RBI-single for themselves and the team took a 3-1 lead with just six outs to go.

Mi got through one batter in the eighth inning before giving up a single.

His final line read: 7.1 innings pitched, 1 earned run, 5 hits, 7 K’s.

Jackson Slaney would come in for relief of Mi, and got out of the inning without giving up a run.

In the top of the ninth, Hinke and Perez again came up with a pair of RBI’s to give Iowa State a 6-1 lead going into the final frame.

Slaney came in for the ninth and sealed the win for Iowa State.

The Cyclones earned a day off on Saturday and cemented themselves as one of the final six teams fighting for the championship.

The team’s next game will be against the winner of Friday’s No. 2 East Carolina – No. 7 Penn State matchup. East Carolina is the defending champion of the tournament.

That game will take place Sunday afternoon at 2:45 p.m.