Last Saturday afternoon was a busy one for Randy Ford.

The Penn State pitching coach spent nearly as much time visiting the mound as he did sitting in the dugout during the Nittany Lions' doubleheader at Delaware, as none of his hurlers could seem to find the plate. When they did, the Blue Hens made them pay, pounding 24 hits in the two games.

Lion junior Justin Nash made it through only 1 1/3 innings of Game 1, exiting after allowing six runs.

Afterwards the normally reliable right-hander couldn't explain his sudden location problems.

"I felt great coming out of the bullpen," Nash said. "I probably had one of my best warm-up sessions in awhile. I just couldn't throw strikes. I got behind on all the hitters."

Nash gave way to junior Mike Watson, who kept the Blue Hens off the board until the fourth inning. With two on, two out and one run already in, Watson hurt his own cause by fielding a Teddy Puitz grounder and throwing wildly to first, allowing Delaware to tack on two more runs and effectively put the game out of reach.

Saturday's second game was suspended after six innings due to darkness, but the Hens again only needed one inning to put the Lions in a hole.

Penn State again made a pitching change with one out in the second, but this time it was the second call to the bullpen of the inning. Neither freshman David Aardsma, who took Game 2's loss, nor junior Kyle Smith could stop the Delaware hit parade.

The Lions finally stopped the bleeding when sophomore Kevin Damiano entered the game in the fifth, as the left-hander held the Hens hitless the remainder of the afternoon. That wasn't enough to assuage Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang, however, who was also upset about the seven errors the Lions committed in 13 innings Saturday.

"If your starter only makes it one and a third innings, it takes everything out of your team," Hindelang said. "You can't win like that. They were horrible out there today. There weren't many things they did well. I'm very concerned."

By contrast, Delaware's two starters, junior Rich McGuire and sophomore Jason Vincent, turned in solid if unspectacular performances for the Hens. McGuire scattered eight hits and five runs in Game 1. Vincent, minus a four-run fourth in which the Lions ripped off four consecutive hits, kept the Penn State bats quiet as well in six innings of Game 2.

"I was happy with our two kids," said Delaware baseball coach Jim Sherman. "They're not power pitchers — they've got to be spot guys all the time. They did a pretty good job."

Hindelang drew some encouragement from the fact that the Lions who took the hill Sunday — seniors Pete Yodis and Dan McCall — turned in some outstanding pitching. Yodis mowed down six of the seven batters he faced in Game 2's conclusion, while McCall allowed just one run and six hits in the series finale until Frank Fresconi hit a two-out homer in the eighth. Penn State also helped out its pitching by playing error-free ball for the final 12 innings Sunday.

"McCall was outstanding," Hindelang said.

"The game is fun when you get good pitching and some defense."

The Lions are hoping future outings will more closely resemble Saturday than Sunday, and that Ford can remain seated in the dugout for all nine innings.