The Aggies proved their ranking is not a fluke by beating Iowa State 11-1 and 9-1 at the Southwest Athletic Complex, handing the Cyclones their fifth and sixth consecutive losses. Both games were called after five innings because of the 8-run rule.

"You can't give them anything because they'll take it and they're good," said ISU assistant coach Gary Hines. "Hopefully they taught our young players what you do when people make mistakes against you. They scored every opportunity they had. You hate to lose that way, but we're going to try to take a couple good things out of it and then forget it and try to move on."

The Cyclones gave A&M plenty in the opener as starting pitcher Rachel Zabriskie and reliever Amie Ford allowed 11 runs on six hits. The two issued four walks and hit seven batters, six by Ford.

Charissa Carlin relieved Ford with ISU trailing 11-0 in the third inning and kept the Aggies scoreless the rest of the way. Carlin then started the second game and worked four innings before tiring.

"Charissa came in and did a good job in the first game," Hines said. "She got tired in the middle innings of the second (game) and couldn't make quality pitches every time and (Texas A&M) is going to take advantage of that."

Hines also had kind words for Zabriskie, who worked the fifth inning of the nightcap, allowing a pair of runs on two hits. Zabriskie had trouble finding the strike zone in the opener as she threw 57 pitches, 30 for strikes.

"Rachel came in and did alright based on what she did in the first game," Hines said. "That's a tough comeback. I give her credit for that."

Texas A&M took a 1-0 lead in the opener and never looked back. The Aggies all but put the game out of reach with six runs in the second and four in the third. Third baseman Jamie Hinshaw led the way with three hits and three RBIs and center fielder Jami Lobpries drove in a pair of runs.

Megan Gibson got the win to improve to 22-0 for the season. She brought a 0.92 earned run average into the game and the lone ISU run she did allow was earned, but she also struck out seven, giving her 162 strikeouts in 150 innings of work.

ISU's only run off Gibson came in the fourth when Alex Johnson reached on a fielder's choice, took second when Amanda Bradberry was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on an infield single by Sydni Jones.

Kelsey Kidwell, Courtney Wray and Carrie Monroe also had its for the Cyclones.

ISU played a little better in the second game, collecting seven hits off winning pitcher Rhiannon Kliesing, including a single and a double by Wray. Kristy Olsen, Johnson, Bradberry, Jones and Sara Stinson also had hits in the game.

The Cyclones took a 1-0 lead in the first when Olsen reached on an infield hit and moved around on a sacrifice by Kidwell, Wray's infield hit and a double by Johnson.

Texas A&M took all the momentum away with three runs in the second, four in the fourth and two in the fifth. Natalie Villarreal and Kelsey Spittler had three hits apiece for the Aggies and Villarreal drove in four runs with a double in the second and a three-run homer in the fourth. Spittler added RBIs for the Aggies (36-6, 8-0 Big 12) and Jamie Hinshaw hit a solo home run in the fourth.

Hines said he was pleased with the overall play of Monroe, the ISU shortstop, and Bradberry at second. And he said he felt the pitching was better in the second game.

Those two things we can build on," Hines said. "Now that we're done with what I consider a really tough part of the schedule we have to get our confidence back up and get back to aggressive offense, defense and pitching. Our middle infielders played great today. We have things to build on and we just have to do that because we can still win a lot of games in the Big 12."

ISU (23-17, 1-5) steps away from conference play with a double header against Drake on Wednesday. The first game starts at 2 p.m. at the Southwest Athletic Complex.

Dick Kelly can be reached at 232-2161, Ext. 355, or dkelly@amestrib.com.

First game Texas A&M 164 00 - 11 7 0 Iowa State 000 10 - 1 4 1 Megan Gibson and Erin Glasco; Rachel Zabriskie, Amie Ford (2), Charissa Carlin (3) and Alex Johnson. W-Gibson 22-0. L-Zabriskie 11-7.

2B: Texas A&M (Jamie Hinshaw, Alex Reynolds).

Second game Texas A&M 030 42 - 9 13 1 Iowa State 100 00 - 1 7 2 Rhiannon Kliesling and Erin Glasco; Charissa Carlin, Rachel Zabriskie (5) and Alex Johnson. W-Kliesling 10-4. W-Carlin 8-6.

2B: Texas A&M (Natalie Villarreal, Kelsey Spittler); Iowa State (Courtney Wray, Johnson). 3B: Texas A&M (Jami Lobpries). HR: Texas A&M (Villarreal, Jamie Hinshaw).