Being a closer is a lot like returning home after your roommates threw a party — it's your responsibility to clean up someone else's mess.

Penn State junior Mike Watson has made a career out of wiping opponents' threats away, but is struggling out of the bullpen this season for the 8-15 Nittany Lions.

After a rocky start, Penn State's starting rotation of Pete Yodis, Dan McCall and Justin Nash is beginning to come around nicely. But an inexperienced corps of relievers and a shaky Watson are two of the main reasons why the Lions have lost five contests by a single run and have blown late-inning leads in four of those games.

Watson was 8-1 with five saves last year, but has yet to record a save this season and has a 10.98 ERA and an 0-1 record in nine appearances.

"Michael is struggling," Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang said. "He has wonderful ability and is mentally tough, but he's struggling."

While Watson has had his troubles in the early going, he's been thrown into some incredibly sticky jams. In the second game of Saturday's doubleheader at Indiana, for instance, Watson came on with no outs in the bottom of the seventh with Hoosiers on first and second. After beaning right fielder Blake St. Clair, his sixth hit batsman of the year, Watson served up a grand slam to Vasili Spanos, allowing the Hoosiers to steal what would be their lone victory of the series.

"I'm definitely getting put in some tough situations," Watson said. "But I've been in them before. I just need to find a groove and get back to where I was last year."

Watson said he feels he is making slow progress and shrugs off the notion that he's under pressure to anchor the Penn State pen, even though he's one of only two returning non-starters on the Lions staff. The other, sophomore Kevin Damiano, has fared even worse, surrendering five runs in only 3 2/3 innings.

"We have a lot of young, talented guys on the team," Watson said. "I don't feel any pressure."

Hindelang doesn't have the answer for Watson's early struggles, but said that walks and hit batsmen have been far too frequent.

"If you add up hits and bases on balls and hit batsmen, he's allowing two and a half base runners per inning," he said. "And that's way too many."

A lot of pitchers fall prey to cold-weather injuries this time of year, especially relievers, who have to avoid numbness in the bullpen. But Watson's troubles have more to do with precision than pain.

"To our knowledge he's injury free, and he gives his best effort each time out," Hindelang said.

If it hopes to earn another NCAA Tournament berth, Penn State will need Watson's best efforts down the road to clean up those unavoidable late-inning messes.