After getting away with the baseball equivalent of driving right past a squad car at 20 miles over the speed limit while the police officer's head was down, the Penn State baseball team knows it will have to be a lot more careful this weekend than it was last Sunday.
The Nittany Lions (2-0) escaped their series with Norfolk State with two wins last week despite seven errors in Sunday's game, thanks to great pitching by seniors Justin Nash and Mike Watson. This week, they travel to Harrisonburg, Va., to play Colonial Athletic Association powerhouse James Madison (3-2) on Saturday and Sunday, with both games starting at 1 p.m.
Watson and Nash will again take the hill for the Nittany Lions on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Nash, who was named Big Ten pitcher of the week for his 3-hit victory over the Spartans, is confident that his defense won't be one of the elements he's battling on Sunday.
"That doesn't happen very often," Nash said. "I have a lot of faith in these guys. We've got a solid infield, and we've got a lot of great defensive ball players. I think they'll be able to get past that and they'll do fine this week."
Considering the Dukes' lineup, they probably won't be able afford making those same mistakes.
In their first five games, the Dukes are hitting .362 as a team. First baseman Eddie Kim is the most formidable presence in the lineup. He is hitting 11-21 with eight RBI thus far this season after leading the CAA with a .397 batting average last year. Though his team has only four stolen bases thus far this season, Dukes coach Spanky McFarland is renowned for having teams that are aggressive on the base paths.
The Lions won't have an easy time with the bats either. Lefty Dan Meyer, who held Maryland to three hits and one run in his five innings of work to win his first start of the season, and right-hander Chris Cochran, who led the team with a 9-3 record last season.
In the double header the Lions split with the Dukes last season at Beaver Field, Meyer was the winning pitcher in the first game.
The Lions have already suffered a setback this week. Center fielder Zack Smithlin will be out for 4-5 weeks with a broken hook of the hammate bone in his right (throwing) hand. Smithlin has felt nagging pain in his hand since practice began at the beginning of the semester. It had been subsiding, but it acted up during Smithlin's first at bat Saturday, and a MRI taken this week showed a fracture.
"It's a positive that it was caught early," Smithlin said. "Not that these games don't matter, but this way I can still get back for the conference season."
"I'm just going to keep going to practice and do everything I can to stay in shape so that when I get back I'll be in the same shape I'm in now."
Junior George Everly, who started in 16 games last season, will get the start in center field, and second baseman Mike DeRenzo will likely hit in the leadoff spot after going 1-4 with a two runs scored out of that hole against Norfolk State Sunday.
Despite last week's gaffes, Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang and a number of his players have called this one of the most prepared teams at this point in the season in recent years. This week, Hindelang hopes for his team to improve against a higher quality team, and to focus on the same things we did last week.
"I'm glad we're playing a higher level team, this is definitely going to be a test for us" Hindelang said. "But, I always say we're not playing against a team, we're playing against the game of baseball, we've got to get solid pitching, timely hitting and make routine plays."
