Gomez's Five-Hit Outing Leads ISU at Rebel Classic

LAS VEGAS – Iowa State junior centerfielder Brittany Gomez tied an Iowa State school record with her five hits against UC-Santa Barbara Saturday night at the Rebel Classic in Eller Media Stadium. Gomez went 5-for-5 with a career-high four RBIs and three stolen bases to lead ISU past the Gauchos 16-8 in five innings. Earlier in the day, ISU fell to Houston 5-0. The Cyclones are now 12-7 on the season.

Gomez became the second player in school history to record five hits in a single game, joining Carleigh Berry, who did it at Missouri State in 2009.

Game Two: Iowa State 16 UC Santa Barbara 8 (Five Innings)
The Cyclones scored the first three runs of the high-scoring affair, with Rachel Hartman grounding out, but bringing home Gomez in the first and ISU scoring a pair of runs on fielding errors by the Gauchos in the bottom of the second. However, UCSB was able to tie it with one swing of the bat as Shelby Wisdom launched a 3-run home run off Paris Imholz to tie things back up, 3-3.

ISU got back to it in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of more fielding miscues from Santa Barbara to bring in five more runs. The first came across on a throwing error by the Gauchos on a play at first that brought in Kaila Konz to make it 4-3 ISU. Two batters later, Sammie Hildreth brought one home and Gomez followed that up with one of her two 2-RBI hits to get the Cyclones ahead 7-3. A pair of Gomez steals meant Lexi Slater just had to get one into the outfield to bring home the Cyclone speedster to make it 8-3.

Stacy Roggentien came in for Imholz, but UCSB still brought the power. After a throwing error by Konz cut the lead to 8-4, the Gauchos cleared the bases as Arianna Palomares bombed a 3-run home run to left to make it 8-7 Cyclones. Santa Barbara then went to work on manufacturing a run, eventually cashed in by DeJanee Moore via an RBI-single to tie things up again.

The Cyclones got right back to work in the fourth, as they loaded the bases with one out to allow Gomez and Slater to hit back-to-back 2-RBI doubles to make it 12-8 Iowa State. Katie Johnson came in and shutout the Gauchos in the top of the fifth, and ISU was able to close things out. Jorden Spendlove drove in the first run on an RBI-single. With the bases loaded, Slater took a pitch to the shin to bring in another run and make it 14-8 Cyclones. UCSB looked out of the inning as Maddie Reese flew one to center, but the Gauchos committed another error, bringing home two runs to end the game 16-8.

Game One: Houston 5 Iowa State 0
After hitting Tiffani McKnight with a pitch to lead off the bottom of the second, Iowa State looked to have cleared the trouble after getting back-to-back outs. However, the Cougars cashed in as Julana Shrum smashed a first-pitch Katie Johnson offering well over the right field wall to make it 2-0 Houston.

UH was not done as they then drew back-to-back walks via Kayla Holland and Katie St. Pierre. Once again, the Cougars took advantage of the runners as Kaylin Crumpton fired one down the line in right and to the wall, allowing both runners home to make it 4-0 Houston.

Stacy Roggentien came in for Iowa State to start the third inning and did well to maintain things as the game went along. However, Houston was able to add one more in the bottom of the sixth. St. Pierre hit a short fly ball to center, Brittany Gomez came in to make a sliding catch, but was short and the ball got behind her and to the wall. That was more than enough time for St. Pierre to make it around the bags for an inside the park home run to make it 5-0 Cougars.

The Cyclones mounted a pair of opportunities in the third and seventh innings. In the third, ISU got two-out singles from Sammie Hildreth and Gomez, both up the middle. However, when Lexi Slater tried to go up the middle, UH pitcher Summer Groholski was able to stick a glove out to get the out. In the seventh, Kelsey McFarland and Aly Cappaert both recorded singles. This time, the UH defense stepped up as they turned a 4-6-3 double play on Nychole Antillon's grounder to end the contest.

On Deck
Iowa State wraps up the Rebel Classic tomorrow against Eastern Kentucky. First pitch is slated for 11:15 a.m. local time, 1:15 p.m. Central time.

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Players Mentioned

Nychole Antillon

Aly Cappaert

Aly Cappaert

Brittany Gomez

Brittany Gomez

Rachel Hartman

Rachel Hartman

Sammie Hildreth

Paris Imholz

Paris Imholz

Katie Johnson

Katie Johnson

Kaila Konz

Kelsey McFarland

Maddie Reese

Maddie Reese

Stacy Roggentien

Stacy Roggentien

Lexi Slater

Lexi Slater

Jorden Spendlove

Jorden Spendlove

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