Hindelang flustered by pitching woes

By WILLIAM KALEC
Collegian Staff Writer

Joe Hindelang is not a hard man to find.

During the bottom half of innings at Beaver Field, the Penn State men's baseball coach, who has been at the helm of the Nittany Lions for the last nine seasons, paces between the painted lines of the third-base coach's box. Clapping his hands with his blue Penn State jacket worn to combat the increasing winds, Hindelang shouts generic calls of encouragement to his batters.

When his Lions are spread out defensively, he is in the dugout peering at the current situation through his wire-rimmed glasses -- fast becoming a Hindelang signature.

And what the Penn State skipper saw last Saturday through that signature eyewear was a trend he did not like.

"You're preparing now for one of your most important seven weekends coming up," Hindelang said. "I want Dan Goebler to pitch like a No. 1 pitcher. I want Dan McCall to pitch like a No. 2 guy, and I want Peter Yodis to pitch like a No. 3 in the series."

The only thing that kept Hindelang's glasses from not fogging up was a stiff cold blowing wind, as his starters were not performing up to par.

And he was visibly upset about it.

But after a Penn State doubleheader sweep of C.W. Post last Saturday (9-1, 7-2) it was difficult for the 622 people in attendance to see what Hindelang's beef was. Coming off a start at William & Mary, in which he was lit up for eight runs, seven earned, Goebler returned and pitched a complete one-run game in perhaps his most impressive start of the season.

McCall equaled his predecessor's impressive performance by holding C.W. Post to just four hits before being relieved by closer Mike Watson in the seventh inning of the second half of the twin bill. Goebler and McCall held the Pioneers to a mere three runs in 14 innings while allowing just 12 hits on the afternoon.

In the eyes of the onlookers, the performance by the Lions starters was nearly perfect, and up until the seventh inning of both games Hindelang would have agreed with them.

But unfortunately the seventh innings did happen.

"I definitely wanted to throw a complete game," McCall said. "I had the curveball working but they were kind of sitting on my fastball. That last inning was pretty disappointing."

Both Goebler and McCall gave up their only runs of the game during the Pioneers' last at bats. Goebler, with a nine-run cushion, was able to finish what he started as he gave up one run, two hits and hit a batter.

Hindelang also saw a large Penn State lead start to dwindle as McCall hit the wall at the same time Goebler did in the previous game, leaving questions about the stamina of the starting rotation.

And while Hindelang may be easy to find, spotting a Penn State starter who can go the distance is becoming much more difficult.

"I wanted Dan (McCall) to finish the game strong. He was at 100 pitches and couldn't finish," Hindelang said. "Well, if you are in a nine-inning game, you got three innings to go, so you want an endurance build up."