After dropping its last two games to C.W. Post, 4-3, 4-0, on a frozen Beaver Field, the baseball team's 1-9-1 record looks suspiciously like that of the Toronto Maple Leafs. But it will be New York Tech (not the New York Rangers) on tap for two games starting at noon tomorrow at Tech's home field.

"We're looking at the games in Florida like a professional baseball team looks like at spring training," Coach Shorty Stoner said. "We weren't looking to set the world on fire down South. We were just looking to meet the challenges down there.

"We're trying not to let the games in Florida upset the apple cart. I thought we hit the ball well down there and we kept up with most of those teams, but we just couldn't hold on and win when we had the early lead."

C.W. Post's sweep of the Lions featured strong pitching from both teams mostly resulting from frigid conditions at the Lions' home field. Gusting winds pushed temperatures down to 28 degrees with the wind chill factor.

"The pitcher definitely has the advantage in cold weather," pitcher Dave Healy said. "When I'm on the mound I have a sweatshirt on and I'm always moving and I'm always blowing on my hand. It's hard to hit in cold weather because they're standing around more. When the wind blows in (from the outfield) it slows the ball down an awful lot."

Healy (0-3) has seen the most work so far this season, going 18.7 innings in four outings and posting a 4.34 ERA. Healy was the victim of silent Lion bats during the squad's 4-0 loss to C.W. Post.

"We just haven't been able to put both pitching and hitting together in the same game," Healy said. "One game we're hitting the ball, but we're giving up too many hits. Another time we're getting good pitching, but we're not getting the hitting."

The Lions have been stung so far this year by walks. Penn State has given up 46 freebies in 80 innings this season, a stat that makes the things worse for the Lion pitchers, who have a combined ERA of 5.85.

Although Penn State isn't exactly stinging the ball this season, hitting at a mediocre .276 as a team, there are some bright spots. Brad Bowden and Jeff Kavek lead the team, hitting a .410 and .333 clips, respectively.

And although Steve Haffner is hitting only .235, Stoner said he has been a victim of bad luck.

"Haffner has been really hitting the ball hard, but he hasn't been able to get anything to fall in," he said. "His average has been misleading so far, but he's gonna get some hits sooner or later."

Stoner plans to start Byron Magee (0-2) and Gary Miller (0-0) on the mound for the twinbill against New York Tech. In their last meeting with Tech, the Lions won the first game of the doubleheader, 18-0, but Tech turned around and took the second game by a wide margin.