When asked how he hit .432 in 1897, Wee Willie Keeler had perhaps the most concise definition of a hitter's job at the plate.

"Simple," he said. "I keep my eyes closed and I hit 'em where they ain't."

Marvelous in its simplicity, understanding the concept is much easier than the execution.

Mike DeRenzo realizes this all too well.

The senior second baseman for the Penn State baseball team said his good bounces at the plate have been few and far between this season.

After a stellar .355 batting average in 203 at-bats last season, DeRenzo has only 15 hits in 58 trips to the plate for a harsher .221 average in the 2003 campaign.

However, the tri-captain, who hits second in the order, says the numbers are deceiving.

"I feel like I've had a couple of bad games, but mostly I've been getting solid contact," DeRenzo said.

"Batting average really doesn't show how well I've done at the plate."

Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang agreed.

The Nittany Lions' manager said that a quality at-bat is more about working a pitcher deep into the count, making solid contact and waiting for good pitches than about statistics.

"You could hit a flair over the first baseman's head on the first pitch that was a horrible pitch, or you could hit a hard line-drive at somebody," Hindelang said.

Good contact is key, Hindelang said, but he also mentioned that players also like to see good statistics.

"Batting averages are misleading at any level in baseball," he said.

"What happens with hitters when they don't get .300 is it becomes a mental thing. That's human nature -- you want statistics."

While the numbers haven't been kind to DeRenzo, he's switched from the number three spot in the lineup where he began the season to number two. Hindelang said the second slot is more suited to DeRenzo's game.

As for adjustments to his swing, DeRenzo said he's been working hard to return to last year's form.

After watching film following a doubleheader at Cornell, he said he realized his stance had changed.

To be more effective with the bat, DeRenzo said he working on staying up-right against certain types of pitches and experimenting with the width of his stance.

Something that comes with the territory of being a marked man, which DeRenzo entered after being named to the All-Big Ten third team last season, is improved competition.

While he didn't get any free passes in his previous years in the blue and white, Hindelang said DeRenzo is seeing first-pitch sliders that are low and outside followed by inside fastballs to brush him off the plate -- all part of the game.

"What happens is opposing players and coaches are good," Hindelang said. "They're not going to stand up there and throw you batting practice fastballs. Hitting is timing and pitching is to upset that timing."

Don't count DeRenzo out of the batting race just yet, he says. Last Sunday in a 14-4 Penn State victory at Purdue, he went 3-for-4 from the plate with two doubles, two runs scored, two runs batted in and two walks. Hindelang said his starting second baseman walked away from the game with a huge smile and that brighter days are definitely on the horizon.

As for DeRenzo, he doesn't worry too much about streaks, good or bad.

"Baseball is full of hot and cold streaks," DeRenzo said. "It's a game where you're good at it if you fail 70 percent of the time. There's no other sport like that."