"I was thrilled to get a split against Virginia," Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang said. "They've gotten a number of votes in the national ranking."
Hamilton (1-0), who chose to return to the Lions (1-1) despite being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, dominated in his first appearance of 2004, though playing on a pitch count. He allowed just two hits and one earned run as he struck out six in 4.1 innings of work.
"He put us in a great position to win," Hindelang said. "I was thrilled for him to get off to a good start in his first game."
While it was the Cavaliers (5-1) who jumped out early in the first game, the Lions started with eight runs in the first three innings in the second game.
"My job was easy today," Hamilton said. "The way we hit the ball, it makes the pitcher's life easy with a three-run lead."
Catcher Matt Harter and first baseman Clint Eury led the Lions with a pair of RBI each yesterday.
A bright spot was undoubtedly the Lions' bullpen, which pitched 4.2 scoreless innings in the opener, including a strong showing by sophomore Sean Stidfole. The lefty allowed just two hits, struck out two and induced six ground-ball outs in 3.2 innings.
"Those guys were phenomenal," Hamilton said. "If they can pitch like that throughout the season, we'll be sitting pretty."
In his first career appearance in the second game, freshman Craig Clark pitched 2.2 innings of one-hit, scoreless ball. Senior Jim Farrell (0-1) got the nod for the opener and though things started off well enough, the wheels came off in the second inning. After retiring the first four batters, Farrell had trouble locating his pitches and the Cavaliers took advantage.
A stream of singles down the order accounted for seven runs in innings two through four, six of them earned. The flurry included just one extra-base hit -- an RBI double by Mark Reynolds.
