It's as much a part of baseball as peanuts and cracker jacks.

Since the ailment that plagued the Mighty Casey, strikeouts are a common occurrence in baseball. Coaches just begin to worry when they become too common.

When the Penn State baseball team traveled down to face the fearsome stable of pitchers that then-No. 4 Arizona State (24-1) brought to the mound, Nittany Lions hitters struck out a total of 27 times over the three-game series.

However, Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang said that he's really not worried about the high number of punch-outs yet in this young season.

First and foremost, Hindelang said it is important to consider the immense difference in experience -- the Sun Devils came in to the series having played 22 games and had been in competition since mid-January.

While the Lions had been confined to Holuba Hall, the Sun Devils pitchers had been racking up innings. After pitching 2.1 innings in Friday night's game, Arizona State senior right-hander Jered Liebeck had thrown 38.1 innings on the season and had rung up 23 batters, while nine other pitchers had appeared in at least seven games.

Conversely, the Lions had not yet faced pitching in a game situation, but rather had battled their own teammates. Together, those factors added up to an unfair first test Hindelang said.

"You have to give the Arizona State pitchers credit. They were sharp, they got ahead of hitters," Hindelang said. "It's a very difficult barometer to use to find out where we are as a team."

Penn State senior tri-captains Wes Reohr and Zack Smithlin had similar things to say about the trip. While citing it's common for a team to have early-season struggles, they said the game situation also matters a great deal. While a strikeout late in a tight game may be a back-breaker, it's not as crucial late in a blowout such as Penn State's 13-0 loss last Friday.

To help the hitters' mechanics, the Penn State coaching staff videotaped each at bat of the weekend, and Smithlin said the swings weren't necessarily to blame for the strikeouts.

"It's something we're not too worried about at this point," Smithlin said. "If it becomes a habit, we may look at it more closely."

While other hitters struggled in their first action, Reohr seemed to pick up where he left off after the 2002 season in which he lead the team with a .393 batting average.

Reohr, who went 5-for-11 with a run batted in and two runs scored, said it was nice to finally get outside.

"I felt comfortable under the lights," Reohr said. "I saw the ball a lot better than inside."

While Reohr was able to see the ball, Hindelang said the pressure of the first weekend and the big-game atmosphere may have been more than enough to trigger some nerves. The important evaluation tool for the coaches was whether or not it was a "quality at-bat." Taking a pitcher deep into a count and striking out on a 3-and-2 count is possibly a much better at-bat than popping up to the second baseman on the first pitch, Hindelang said.

When the Lions make their West Coast swing over spring break, they say they'll be mightier at the bat.