Being a northern baseball team can be tough in February. That's why Penn State will use their spring break trip to Texas for a bit of recuperation.

The Nittany Lions are 2-5 and have struggled thus far. They are hitting at a .250 clip and have scored just 33 runs.

"We've been saying it for a while, but our hitting will come," first baseman Donnie Wright said. Wright can say that though. He is in the midst of a six-game hitting streak and is batting .346 with a homerun, seven RBI and six runs scored.

Zack Smithlin is the only other Lion batting over .300.

Here's the good news. Four of the five teams that Penn State faces during their nine day stay face similar situations.

In the Texas A&M Classic the Lions face the Aggies, UNLV and Indiana State. All four teams enter the tournament with losing records.

The Aggies have lost six of their last seven games and are 4-7 overall. The Runnin' Rebels are 6-9 and Indiana State lost its only game of the season.

The Lions open tournament play in College Station today at 8 p.m. against the host and will play each team twice over a four-day period.

Beginning March 8th the Lions will play Troy State and Texas-Pan American twice each in Edinburg to round out the trip.

Troy State has beaten four Big Ten teams already this season and is currently 9-5 overall. They are batting .292 as a team and have scored 97 runs.

Texas-Pan American is 1-14 and has dropped their last nine games.

Two spots in the Penn State outfield are open entering the trip. Rod Perry's play has picked up of late and he will get a chance to prove he can be an everyday left-fielder. Wes Reohr will start in right field, but George Everly, Mike Hurey and Doug Rodio will all see playing time.

The Nittany Lions need to find consistency on the mound. Ace Pete Yodis has been improving from week to week and hopes to have his best stuff this week.

"Last weekend I was cruising," he said of his start against Virginina. "In the sixth they started hitting good pitches. I still felt comfortable. Most of the credit goes to them."

The Cavaliers scored 10 runs in that sixth inning.

"This week I need to get ahead of batters so that doesn't happen."

Freshmen David Aardsma and Aaron Tressler both enjoyed impressive outings against Virginia. Tressler got his first win when he shutout the Cavs in four and one third inning of relief on Sunday.

The Lions are expected to go with a rotation of Yodis (1-2, 6.46 ERA), Dan McCall (0-0, 5.00 ERA), Justin Nash (0-0, 3.52 ERA) and either Aardsma (0-1, 4.50 ERA) or Tressler (1-0, 0.00 ERA).

Mike Watson and Kevin Damiano will look to work through their early struggles out of the pen.

Penn State skipper Joe Hindelang sees the annual spring break trip as not just a pivotal time on the field, but as a time for his players to come together as a team.

"What's most important is that we are together for nine days," he said. "The guys don't worry about classes and so they can concentrate on baseball."

In years past, the true character of the baseball team has emerged on this trip, said Hindelang, and he is expecting that again this season.

"I need to find out what I have," he said. "Going into the Big Ten schedule you need to know how to coach your team so you can win close games."