Dirty Deitrick on fire at the plate for Penn State sluggers

Jeremy Deitrick likes to wear his No. 14 T-shirt from the Keystone games under his Penn State baseball jersey for every game, and he doesn't plan on doing laundry anytime soon.

"I'm not smelling too good right now," Deitrick said.

But Deitrick's coaches and teammates really don't care what he smells like as long as he keeps hitting the baseball the way he has this season.

In 15 games this year, Deitrick is batting .407, has 16 RBIs, five doubles, two triples, five home runs, 20 runs scored and owns a slugging percentage of .852. Overall, the Williamsport native leads the Nittany Lions (6-9) in seven offensive categories.

"He's on fire," Penn State coach Joe Hindelang said. "He's playing with tremendous enthusiasm. He's having fun. I see this player with a smile on his face."

And Deitrick has plenty a reason to be beaming.

Last season Deitrick, who wears No. 34, batted .262 with five home runs and 22 RBIs. Already this season he has matched his home run output from a year ago and stands to surpass his RBI total in the upcoming weeks. His .407 batting average is .145 percentage points higher than his .262 clip from last season. Oh, and he has a bit of a hitting streak as well.

Deitrick, a left fielder and catcher, has hit safely in each of Penn State's 15 games this season, a feat he paid little attention to until a March 14 game against Creighton in San Antonio. Deitrick batted seventh that day and had gone 0-for-3 at the plate. By the time the ninth inning rolled around, Penn State trailed 15-5.

Deitrick was not due up to bat in the inning, and it appeared his hitting streak would end at 13 games. But the Lions rallied, and Deitrick got one last at bat. This time the slugger would not be denied, as he stroked a single to push the streak to 14.

"After things like that happen, I think it's a lot of luck," Deitrick said.

The thing with luck, though, is that a baseball player usually has to put himself in luck's path to get struck by it. And that means hard work, something Deitrick certainly has done his fair share of at Penn State.

"I've really been lifting a lot," the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Deitrick said. "Before some balls were hitting the fence, and now they're going out."

Partial credit for Deitrick's added power can be given to his practicing with a wooden bat over the summer. He also has made a concerted effort to cut down on strikeouts by just trying to put the bat on the ball.

"All I know is that last year I got off to a pretty bad start," Deitrick said. "In the past if I would make an out I would get pretty frustrated. Now I'm happy with my strikeouts and putting the ball in play."

Hindelang has noted the improvement and made Deitrick a fixture at the fifth spot in his lineup.

"He exudes confidence at the plate," Hindelang said. "He certainly has taken his game to another level."