Big Ten champ sluggers hope title stays home

Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang hopes last year's success won't turn into a mirage this year.

After winning the Big Ten regular season championship last year, the Penn State baseball team has a new level of confidence going into this year's competition.

Coach Joe Hindelang, in his seventh season at the helm, said last season's success is a positive heading into this campaign.

"Knowing the process and knowing it works has given us a higher level of confidence for this season," he said.

Once a team has achieved a certain goal there is always the chance of complacency. Hindelang has taken the approach of Northwestern football coach Gary Barnett, who took the Wildcats from the Big Ten basement to the 1996 Rose Bowl.

"I tell my players that we were always the hunters doing the hunting," Hindelang said. "Now that we're on top, we are the hunted and have to safeguard against thinking it's easy."

Since most players go home for the summer, it is difficult to have any type of organized team practices or meetings. In order to prepare for the 1997 season, many players, such as 1996 Big Ten Pitcher-of-the-Year Nate Bump, spent time playing in summer leagues.

Bump, a junior, spent three weeks in the Cape Cod league and finished up his summer in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League.

"I wanted to work on my control and develop a slider," Bump said.

Junior right fielder John DaCostino also participated in summer league play in Virginia, playing in the Shenandoah Valley league.

"I wanted to focus on hitting against left-handed pitching," he said.

No matter where the players spent their summer, Hindelang had them thinking about one thing -- the NCAA Tournament.

Hindelang wants his players "to give their best effort all the time, on and off the field," and hopes that will help lead them to winning the Big Ten tournament which has an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

"The atmosphere is different knowing that we've won and have the potential to go further," Bump said. "The practice atmosphere is good."

Last year's squad finished 32-24-1 overall and won the Big Ten regular-season title with a 19-8 mark, but lost to Indiana and Illinois after defeating Michigan in the Big Ten tournament held at Beaver Field.

"To get into the 48-team regional tournament by winning the Big Ten title or by receiving one of the 18 at-large bids was our main goal to focus on in the offseason," Hindelang said.

With 17 returning letterman, including seven position players and three pitchers, the Nittany Lions are looking for a bright future. Handling the tri-captain duties are first baseman Carl Albrecht, catcher Jared Sadlowski and Bump. Two freshmen, Eric Spadt and Shawn Fagan, have cracked the starting lineup at second and third base, respectively.

The 1997 Lions are ranked No. 34 in the College Baseball Fabulous 40 preseason poll compiled by The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. They are the highest ranked Big Ten team, with Ohio State at No. 36.

The Lions have started their 1997 campaign in rather slow fashion, dropping their first two games last weekend. UNC-Wilmington rallied for an 8-5 victory over the Lions, while Virginia, behind pitching ace Pat Daneker, needed no rallies to post a 12-4 victory.

There seems no need to worry at the present moment, after all last season's team started off in similar fashion and rebounded to capture the Big Ten title. Nothing is easy playing the first 20 games on the road.