Scott Gummo never gets anything to hit.

Opposing teams know how dangerous a hitter and how patient at the plate Gummo can be, so they come into games against Penn State refusing to give the Lion designated hitter anything over the middle or inside. It's outside, outside and a little more outside.

It's tough for him too. Since he fouled a ball off his ankle against Cornell last week, Gummo has been relegated to the designated hitter role. He only gets to be on the field four or five times a game and every one has to count.

All he gets to do is hit, and sometimes, the other team's pitching staff won't even let him do that.

Yesterday, against St. Bonaventure wasn't much different. The Bonnies' pitching staff stuck to their strategy well and kept the ball away from the big Tyrone native.

Every pitch except one that is.

What about that one pitch? Well, it was a curveball low and inside that Gummo sent over the 370-foot marker in left center for a two-run homer, a homer that saved the day for the Nittany Lions at a point in the game when everything looked lost.

Up to that juncture, the Lions had scored seven runs in the game, but none since the fifth inning. St. Bonaventure reliever Matt Landahl had mesmerized the Penn State hitters and had turned once potent bats into mush.

But, with two outs in the eighth, Landahl was replaced by Brian Pellegrini, who promptly gave up a single to shortstop Mike Milliron.

Up stepped Gummo and the rest is history.

The homerun put the Lions up by one run, 9-8, and gave Lions first baseman/closer Clint Eury a chance to pick up the save in the top of the ninth.

So far this year, when Eury's been in, its lights out for the other team. Yesterday was no different and because of it Gummo became the hero.

"I just wanted to get a hit and make good contact," Gummo said. "I never go up there thinking homerun, but if I hit one, I don't mind."

Gummo probably didn't mind the wind either.

"Initially, I didn't think it was going out," Lions head coach Joe Hindelang said. "But once it got up in the wind ... let's just say if it wasn't windy it probably wouldn't have made it."

From the on deck circle, Eury was a little more confident.

"I thought it had a chance, I knew he got it pretty good," Eury said.

In the end, it didn't matter. The ball made it over and a potentially disastrous loss to a team from a supposedly inferior conference was quickly turned around.

As exciting as it was for Gummo, it may have meant more to his coach.

"I'm just glad he hit that homerun," a low-key Hindelang said. "Because it saves me from taking Valium."