The Penn State baseball club was listening for two simple words this weekend. In fact it has been waiting for those words for a long time.

"Play ball!"

The Nittany Lions listened and waited for the magical words that meant they would be able to resume their schedule and defend their New Penn Conference title. All they heard was silence.

For the 19th and 20th times this season, weather canceled the team's games this past weekend against New York University before the teams could take the field.

"It's actually very frustrating," junior third baseman Dan Day said.

Day, a native of Rochester, N.Y., is used to cold winters and games lost to snow and rain.

He said he does not remember a year as bad as this as far as losing games goes.

Weather, be it snow, rain or freezing rain, has historically been the Achilles heel of northeastern baseball. Last season the Lions lost 12 games because of weather while the 2001 season saw 14 games vanquished for the same reasons.

Major League Baseball teams themselves have also lost games to the most recent snowstorm.

Because of the weather, club teams such as Penn State, have a disadvantage to southern schools, such as Georgia. The Lions have played eight games because of their trip to Florida over spring break, while Georgia and Baylor have 11 and 15 games played already.

Without games played or fields available, the Lions cannot get needed scrimmages and non-conference games. Both conference and non-conference games are played on the weekends.

The team will need these games if it wants to stay sharp for the NBCA playoffs when it faces teams who already have a head start with so many more games played.

"It's tough," Penn State club baseball coach Phil Pinkasavage said. "We usually try to focus on the weekend when we play."

The Lions will attempt to play Bucknell during the week because of the closeness of the schools while the NYU games lost this weekend and last weekend will probably be played in May.

Sandy Sanderson, the President of the National Club Baseball Association, oversees the teams and conferences.

"We will have to delay regionals if it comes to that," Sanderson said.

Regionals are currently scheduled to be played the week of May 5.

"I wouldn't say it's a bad winter," Sanderson said. "It's bad on the weekends and that is what is hurting us."

The team is scheduled to play at Montgomery County Community College and Rutgers this weekend. This weekend's forecasts, according to the National Weather Service website, are not much better than the ones of the last few weekends.

The Lions will still be listening for those two words again, while hoping not to hear raindrops.