The first time anyone competes in a sport is bound to be tough, but imagine how hard it is when you are being punched in the face.

Four boxers made their debut for Penn State on Saturday night at the Nittany Lion Invitational at the White Building. They finished with a record of 2-2.

At 132 pounds John Baer kicked the night off with his bout against Joey Song from UNLV. Baer, a senior who joined the team in December, was fighting with a partially fractured nose.

"The doctor said I shouldn't fight but that it was up to me, so I fought," said Baer. "After the first punch, I never thought about the nose again until after the fight. The only thing that really hurt was a shot to the ribs."

Song boxed Baer into the corners multiple times during thought the brawl, negating Baer's height and reach advantage. After standing eight-counts in each round, Song won by decision.

"He needs to somehow get people off him," Penn State coach Bill Wrable said. "He didn't get extension on his punches and didn't utilize his reach."

Also having a tough first time out was 112-pound Jon Whitbred who squared off against Xenon Maccari for the Running Rebels.

Both fighters began hammering away at one another with power punches from the get go. Whitbred picked up energy as each round wore on, but he was out-pointed by the second ranked 112-pounder in the nation.

"Tough fight, good fight, he was very quick," said Whitbred. "I'll see him again."

"He did well but he was too tentative," said Wrable. "He's going to be good."

Fairing better in his debut was 165-pound Tom Shortledge in his fight verses Anthony Bravo from VMI. Shortledge came out swinging hard, landing a series of combos that pushed Bravo around the ring. Bravo had an impressive second round to get back into the fight but never really challenged Shortledge. Bravo was bleeding by the third round and Shortledge was awarded the decision.

"It was very fun," said Shortledge. "We're improving weekly."

Shortlege's 165-pound counterpart Miles Rivas had an impressive debut against Justin Trenta from VMI.

The freshman traded jabs with Trenta in the early going of the first round before backing his opponent into the corner and forcing an eight-count.

Rivas continued his domination of the bout in the second when he parried off Trenta's attack and forced Trenta to stumble backwards.

Trenta swung wildly at the start of the third trying desperately to get back into the fight only to be bludgeoned by Rivas until the fight was stopped with Trenta bleeding badly.

"I was a little nervous," said Rivas. "I used what we worked on in practice."

"You could tell the new guys were nervous," team president Alex Komlev said. "We're looking for them to improve as the season goes on."