The drizzle stayed away just long enough for the No. 10 Tigers to take both games in their doubleheader against Iowa, 8-0 and 2-0, Wednesday at University Field.

Missouri’s pitching staff shined again Wednesday, continuing its dominance in the circle. Redshirt junior Chelsea Thomas pitched all five innings of game one, racking up seven punch-outs and allowing no runs and only one hit. After a Hawkeye single with two outs in the first, Thomas retired 13 straight batters to coast to her 11th win on the season.

Not to be outdone, senior Kristin Nottelmann gave up five hits and struck out eight batters over seven innings of work in game two.

“We’re completely different pitchers and she has her own style of pitching and I have my own, so I can’t go out worrying about her,” Nottelmann said. “I have to worry about my own game and just do what I have to do.”

After today’s games, the Tigers (22-3) have won 17 straight and have notched nine straight shutouts. Missouri has not allowed a run in the past 54.1 innings.

Nottelman chalked some of the pitching staff’s recent success to the players behind them.

“The defense has been stellar,” she said. “I know we get a lot of the credit for it, but it’s the defense that saves us a lot. Sometimes we’ll give up big hits, and they’ll track it down and catch the ball. They should get all the credit. We just throw it in there and they make the play for us.”

Senior Ashley Fleming maintained her tear at the plate, roping a two-run homer in game one and going 2-for-2 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Fleming went 1-for-3 with a laser line-drive single through the pitcher’s legs in game two.

“I felt good,“ Fleming said. “My main thing is just to early in the count, just making sure that I swing at pitches that I know that I can crush instead of trying to hit ‘pitchers’ pitches. When I do that, I have higher quality at-bats.”

Fleming’s homer came in the bottom of the third. Freshman third baseman Corrin Genovese hit a single up the middle, and was driven in one batter later by the blast.

The score remained 2-0 Tigers until the bottom of the fifth, when Missouri exploded for a six-run frame to end the contest early. Freshman second baseman Ashtin Stephens kicked off the offense by beating out a throw to first on a ground ball. Junior Jenna Marston and Genovese followed with a pair of singles to load the bases.

Fleming then drew a walk, scoring Stephens and pushing the lead to 3-0 Missouri. Freshman slugger Kelsea Roth came in to pinch hit and was hit by a pitch to plate another run. Two batters later, junior Nicole Hudson blooped a pinch hit fly in between the Iowa second baseman and right fielder for a 5-0 Tigers lead.

Freshman Kayla Kingsley took a pitch to the wrist with the bases loaded for yet another run. Junior Rachel Hay drilled a ball up the middle and drove in a run one batter later. After a fielders’ choice force-out at home, Marston walked to plate the 8th Missouri run of the game and end it by a run rule.

Despite the big numbers put up on the scoreboard, coach Ehren Earleywine was unsatisfied with his team’s production.

“It’s almost like (the hitters are) just sitting back,” he said. “Those eight runs in the first game, those were ugly runs. A lot of those were given to us. It’s not like we got up and hit a bunch of balls hard. We didn’t hit the ball hard.”

Game two featured less scoring punch for both sides.

The contest was scoreless going into the bottom of the third inning. Genovese reached base on a fielder’s choice, then stole second before Kingsley lofted a ball into right center. The Iowa center fielder showed some range to make the grab, but collided with the right fielder in the process, allowing Genovese to tag up and score from second.

The Tigers loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth, but could only manage one run when Hudson scored from third on an error by the pitcher.

The game ended in the top of the seventh when a Hawkeye base-running gaffe allowed the Tigers to get the last out instead of giving up their first run since March 10.

“That was her own fault for running with her head down,” Nottelmann said.

Missouri will head to College Station for a weekend Big 12 Conference series against the No. 19 Texas A&M Aggies.