Doublemint gum should look no further than the Penn State starting rotation to find its next spokes-chewers.

The 2005 incarnation of the Penn State baseball team is double the fun, with pitchers Sean and Alan Stidfole.

"Alan and Sean, I have to stop including those two together," Penn State coach Robbie Wine said. "I want them to be Alan, and I want them to be Sean."

The twins are No. 1 and No. 2 in the pitching rotation at the start the season -- with the right-handed Stidfole, Sean, getting the first nod and the first loss last weekend in the team's first outing all year, a 6-3 stumble against North Carolina-Charlotte.

Sophomore southpaw Craig Clark stepped in for Stidfole on Saturday and stole both the show and Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors for his four innings of relief, allowing only one earned run.

"I just found out as I walked in here," Clark said before practice Tuesday. "I was getting ready and [Penn State Sports Information Assistant Bob Volkert] walks over to me and says, 'You know, you're Big Ten Pitcher of the Week,' and I didn't even know it. I thought he was just messing around with me."

Clark could factor prominently as the three-man on the staff.

"He could surprise a lot of people," Wine said. "It would've been nice to walk out of there with a win, but just to have a Penn State player out there -- whether that be a hitter or whatever -- in the Big Ten spotlight is important. I want to get to where someone's on the borderline of being Big Ten player or pitcher of the week every week."

Pitching has always been a strength for the Nittany Lions on the diamond, something that can only improve with the addition of first-year coach Wine and pitching coach Jason Bell. Intensity at practice is high with all these new faces.

"You don't really want to slack off; we hardly even know them yet," Sean Stidfole said. "We've spent three-quarters of a year up here with them, and you still don't know how they're going to react to certain things. You don't want to be the person that they make an example of."

A lot of that intensity has been focused on the catchers in the early going, working to replace Matt Harter.

The rock behind the plate the last few years for the Lions moved on after last season and graduation.

"It's hard to replace a Harter," Clark said. "He caught every inning of every game. Well, all but one."

All but one -- one when he got crossed up by a pitch and took a fastball to the wrist, gruesomely, only to buckle-up right back in the next game.

Wine's toughest job in the early going has been breaking in the new catchers, and right now sophomore Joe Blackburn is his man.

"Those guys, they've gotten better -- in the fall we were afraid, but they've gotten better," Wine said. "Joe did a great job handling our pitchers. He stayed in the game, he called a great game. He needs to continue to get better on blocking balls, receiving, throwing, but I'd say that about any catcher here. He showed me that he can be a leader back there and handle the game, and really, that's all I'm asking of him right now."

Junior Aaron Greenfield and freshman James Spinelli are nipping at Blackburn's heels behind the plate. Wine said he's been impressed with Spinelli to the extent that it's going to be hard to keep him off the field.

Handling the staff won't be easy with the level of talent the Lions have on the mound. Resident old-timers Matt Carroll and Josh Palm, both right-handed seniors, figure to factor into the starting rotation, too.

Carroll brings a much more controlling, finesse style of pitching, which Wine wants to juxtapose with the Stidfoles' power-pitching approach.

In the bullpen, sophomore Steve Cline and redshirt freshmen Sam Matisse and Kevin McCausland should see time alongside freshmen Gary Amato and Paul Hawkins. And Clint Eury should be making the move from first base to the mound in closing situations.