The Penn State baseball club will venture south again this weekend to battle the James Madison University club team in a four-game series beginning Saturday afternoon.

The Lions (4-4) have won their last two games in a row, and they feel that the six games they played over spring break in Florida have helped them improve their game considerably.

"The best practice we've had was playing those six games," Penn State baseball club coach Jason O'Neill said. "By the last two games in Florida, our starting pitching was strong, and our fielding was consistent."

The Lions look for their pitching staff to set the tone in the series against JMU. Sophomore pitcher Colin Murphy (0-1) will start the first game followed by Mike Ridge (2-0), Tom Case (1-0) and Bill Lippert (1-0).

"Our four best arms are starting, and we are very confident in our pen and closer," O'Neill said.

On offense, the Lions feel that they are starting to find their bats. Junior outfielder Aaron Thompson had an excellent series at the plate in Florida by batting over .400 across six games, and the team average has risen above .300.

"We're pretty prepared to get the bats going," first baseman Brian Lucot said. "Our pitching is already there, so we're well prepared."

On the base paths, the Lions have been struggling in the early going, but they hope to reestablish their running with senior outfielder Joel Shadle and junior shortstop Greg Swindells.

"We are really looking at getting Shadle and Swindells moving, because they stimulate our offense," assistant coach J.J. VanWezenbeeck said.

The series will be the JMU club's first competition of the year and even though the Lions swept them in a doubleheader last spring, they are not overconfident heading onto their field.

"We expect to see an improved JMU team over the last year," O'Neill said.

JMU is confident that they can keep pace with Penn State and hitting seems to be a strong area as they batted .348 as a team in their fall season.

"We are pretty deep in the order," JMU club head coach Dave Scott said. "A lot of our guys can turn singles into doubles and capitalize on pitcher's mistakes."

The JMU team is interested in seeing live pitching from another team, and they feel that their pitching staff is prepared as they have been working on the mound.

"We feel real confident in our role and look for the Penn State series to be a preview of the (national) series in late May," Scott said.

The Lions hope to begin a run with this weekend's series that will carry over into the heart of their schedule.

"We plan to go in there and win all four games," O'Neill said. "If we play our best, we can do that."