Keep your fingers crossed. Might want to cross your toes, too.

If you would finally like the chance to see the baseball team this afternoon, you're probably going to need a little bit of luck with the weather. The weatherman seems to think Happy Valley is going to have three to six inches of snow on the ground when you wake up this morning.

By the time 1 p.m. rolls around, the hour when Penn State (9-4) is supposed to face former Atlantic 10 foe Duquesne (4-2), Beaver Field will probably be a nice, pretty shade of white. Not exactly ideal playing conditions for baseball.

But Coach Joe Hindelang and his players are keeping their hopes up, hopes for some miraculous change that would allow them play. Yesterday, they still thought there was a chance.

"We're going to wait as long as we can before we make a decision," Hindelang said. "We have until about 7 or 8 (this morning), because that's when Duquesne will have to leave for here. But right now, we're still assuming that we're going to play."

"We're always up for playing (this time of year)," freshman outfielder Kirk Rentschler said. "I don't prefer to play in this type of weather, but I'm still always ready to play."

Duquesne is also wishing that the game will come off as scheduled, since they have already had their fair share of bad luck with the weather this season. Add to that the fact that the Dukes didn't have the opportunity to go south for spring break this year. More bad weather won't help them much at all.

In the Penn State-Duquesne series, the Lions have been in complete control. The Lions have lost only one of 36 games the schools have played. Last March, Penn State swept a four-game series.

This doesn't mean that Penn State isn't up for this afternoon, game or no game.

"We worry about one game at a time," Hindelang said. "If you don't do that, you lose focus on who you play. But these games are important because they let me know more about my team going into (the Big Ten)."