ISU baseball team enters first Big 12 Tourney in last season

The Iowa State Cyclones open the Big-12 baseball tournament tonight in Oklahoma City against regular season champion Nebraska. The Cyclones extended the life of the program last weekend by qualifying for the tournament after school officials announced last month the program would be dropped. Coach Lyle Smith says just getting to this point is a tremendous accomplishment. Smith says it’s captured the attention and hearts of a lot of Cyclone fans across the state and nation. He says he’s proud of the way his team has handled the situation.The Cyclones took two of three from the Huskers last weekend and Smith says a victory tonight would be a big step in the tournament. He says though, Nebraska is not going to overlook them.Smith will send sophomore Lincoln Mincks to the mound tonight. Mincks didn’t pitch against Nebraska earlier as Smith didn’t want them to get a good look at his stuff. Smith expects the Huskers to put someone on the mound that his team hasn’t seen either.