Cyclones Advance With Back-to-Back Homers In 10th

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. ? Sydni Jones and Courtney Wray connected on back-to-back home runs as ninth-seeded Iowa State beat eighth-seeded Baylor, 6-4, in 10 innings Friday evening at the Big 12 Championships. The Cyclones advance to face top-seeded Texas A&M on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

The Cyclones (29-28) held leads in the seventh and ninth but Baylor (23-14) was able to scrap back on each occasion and keep the game going until Jones and Wray went yard in consecutive at bats in the 10th. Iowa State starter Rachel Zabriskie tossed a hitless bottom of the frame to give ISU its first win at the Big 12 tournament since 2002. It also marks the first time in tournament history that the nine seed has defeated the eighth-seeded team.

Iowa State put two on the board in the first inning as it strung together four hits off Baylor starter Kirsten Shortridge. With two outs, Alex Johnson got things started with a single down the left field line just over the outstretched arms of third baseman Brette Reagan. Ariel Coburn then singled to center and advanced to second on the throw as Johnson moved to third. Jones then poked a single to right field that plated both Johnson and Coburn for her 25th and 26th runs batted in on the season.

The Cyclones came out of the bottom of the first unscathed despite an apparent run on a line out by Reagan that looked to have scored Shortridge from third. After an appeal by the Cyclones, the third base umpire ruled that Shortridge left without tagging, ending the inning with the score 2-0 in favor of the Cyclones.

ISU tacked another run on in the top of the third as Courtney Wray walked with the bases loaded to score Bradberry, who singled to reach base. Kelsey Kidwell and Jones also had hits in the inning as the Cyclones increased their lead to 3-0 and chased Shortridge after just 2.2 innings.

Baylor loaded the bases with just one out in the bottom of the fifth but Zabriskie got a force out at home and Nicole Wesley to ground out to keep the shutout intact.

The Lady Bears got on the board with a solo homer from Reagan to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Baylor put the tying run on second with just one out but Zabriskie worked out of the jam for the second straight inning without allowing another run and keeping the Cyclone advantage at 3-1.

In the bottom of the seventh, after Meagan Weldon reached on an error, Zabriskie got the next two batters to fly out but Reagan connected on her second homer in as many innings to tie the game at 3-3 and send it to extra innings.

Iowa State got a leadoff double from Coburn in the eighth but was unable to get on the board as it went to the bottom half still knotted up.

In their half of the eighth, the Lady Bears loaded the bases with just one down but Zabriskie got Weldon to line out to center and Shortridge to ground out and send it to the ninth inning.

The scoring continued in the ninth as ISU and Baylor put single runs on the board to send it to the 10th frame. The Cyclones' scoring came a sac fly from Amanda Bradberry and the Lady Bears responded with a run-scoring single by Courtney Oberg.

The fireworks started with one-out in the 10th as Jones ripped Shaina Brock's pitch over the right field wall for her ninth homer of the season. Wray followed with her sixth shot of the year, a shot to right field that gave ISU the 6-4 edge.

Jones finished the game 3-for-5 and drove in three runs while Wray had a pair of hits and two RBI. Wray, a sophomore, now has 61 hits on the season and is just the third player in school history to reach 60 hits in a season. Kidwell and Coburn also had two hits in the game.

The Lady Bears were led by Reagan, who collected two hits, both of which were homers, and drove in three runs.

Zabriskie (15-13) got the win for the Cyclones, allowing four runs, just two of which were earned, while going the distance.

Brock (4-6) was the losing pitcher for the Bears. Brock pitched well in relief, giving up three runs in 7.1 innings and striking out three.

Iowa State 6, Baylor 4 (5-9-2008 at Oklahoma City, Okla.)
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Iowa State.......... 201 000 001 2 - 6 12 4 (29-28)
Baylor.............. 000 001 201 0 - 4 12 1 (23-22)
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Pitchers: Iowa State - Zabriskie, Rachel. Baylor - Shortridge, Kirsten; Brock, Shaina(3).
Win-Zabriskie, Rachel(15-13) Loss-Brock, Shaina(4-6) T-2:32 A-702
HR IS - Jones, Sydni (9); Wray, Courtney (6).
HR BU - Reagan, Brette 2 (10).

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Players Mentioned

Amanda Bradberry

Amanda Bradberry

Amanda Bradberry

Ariel Coburn

Ariel Coburn

Ariel Coburn

Alex Johnson

Alex Johnson

Alex Johnson

Sydni Jones

Kelsey Kidwell

Kelsey Kidwell

Kelsey Kidwell

Courtney Wray

Courtney Wray

Courtney Wray

Rachel Zabriskie

Rachel Zabriskie

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