The baseball team has played against teams with good hitting some days, against teams with good pitching other days, and against teams in the Big Ten. This weekend, the Lions play all three -- in one team.

Penn State (16-16, 3-9 in the Big Ten) travels to Columbus, Ohio, to play a four-game conference series against Ohio State (22-13, 8-4). The two teams will play one doubleheader tomorrow afternoon and another on Easter Sunday.

Right now, the first-place Buckeyes have a one-game lead in the conference standings, in front of a five-way logjam for second. The Lions, by contrast, are in a tie for last place with Northwestern, five games behind the Buckeyes.

But both teams' fortunes in the Big Ten took a turn last week. After winning seven of its first eight conference games, Ohio State lost three of four at Indiana last weekend, its only win coming in a 5-4 squeaker last Sunday.

Conversely, after losing its first eight conference games, Penn State won three of four at home against Northwestern last weekend, its only loss coming in a 5-4 squeaker last Saturday.

"I talked to Bob Todd, the coach of Ohio State, on Tuesday, and he was real surprised that we took three out of four from Northwestern," Penn State Coach Joe Hindelang said. "So I sense that he has a little uneasiness about us coming in."

One of Ohio State's strengths seems to be all-around team batting. As of Tuesday the Buckeyes had three players among the top 10 in the conference in batting average, the highest being second baseman Jeff Anderson, in fourth with a .421 average. Ohio State stands second in the conference in hitting, behind Indiana.

For Penn State, only designated hitter Eric Gates has cracked the top 10, coming in at No. 10 with a .385 average. As a team, the Lions stand sixth in the league in batting.

Ohio State's main man, though, is relief pitcher Mark Mesewicz. Mesewicz is 4-1 with four saves in 11 appearances. He has an 0.48 earned run average with 17 strikeouts in 18 2-3 innings.

But the Lions do not seem to be too affected by this, since it has been their own play that has hurt them the most of late.

"I don't think we're really intimidated," senior second baseman Russ Mushinsky said. "We've played three Big Ten weekends already, and we've played some good teams. We're not going to worry about Ohio State as much as we're going to worry about just playing our game. If we play our game, we'll be in every game."