Two weekends after dropping two of three games to North Carolina State, the Penn State club baseball team (1-2) will travel to Virginia (4-0) this weekend for a three-game series and another chance to see its players in game situations.

The Cavaliers, who have not made it to the National Club Baseball Association (NCBA) World Series, feature several early season standouts, including Player of the Week Shawn Roe. Roe is hitting .429 on the year (6-for-14) with three home runs and 11 RBI, and also hurled a complete game-victory in which he struck out 11.

"They've been a good team for as long as I've been around," Penn State coach Buck Kicinski said.

Kicinski also said the series could be a confidence booster, provided the squad wins, but the primary goal is to gain more knowledge of the team's members.

"We're going to start to solidify a consistent starting lineup," Kicinski said.

In the series against N.C. State, Penn State played every player it brought and had a strong pitching performance in the first game, which it won 6-3. The pitching trio of sophomore Greg Lisa, and freshmen Peter Chalfin and Seth Whitehill limited the Wolfpack to three hits over the final five innings.

"A lot of the young guys pitched very well," Kicinski said. "[The pitchers] threw fantastic in that first game."

In cycling through all of its players, the team has resisted assigning starting positions. Rather, the Lions have used this month to work on fundamentals of hitting, fielding and pitching. A theme of recent practices has been that of balance.

"Balance is [the key]," former head coach Dan Day said. "Without it you will not hit the baseball."

Day came to practice Wednesday to teach the hitters proper form. Breaking down a swing into a series of actions, Day demonstrated drills for the hitters to get their hands through the strike zone as quickly as possible, deriving extra power from hip thrust and maintaining balance.

"I want them to feel the correct way to do it," Day said, also saying that all hitters will not have identical swings even after the drills.

"Ideally, I'd love to have nine machines with that swing. They can have an idea and make it their own."

Balance also has a place in pitching, but from a more mental perspective.

"If you prepare correctly, you won't have to say who's good in what situation," said assistant coach Bill Lippert, who plans to stretch out the team's starters. None pitched any more than two innings in the N.C. State series.

Lippert said that he wants the pitchers to play to the team's defensive strength by inducing more ground balls and being mentally sharp.

In the second game of the N.C. State series, which the Nittany Lions lost 10-1, Lion pitchers walked five batters on the way to a seven-run first inning. In a 13-8 loss in the third game, Lion hurlers walked 10 and allowed another big inning, giving up five in the fifth.

"When we struggled last [series], it was because of walks, getting behind in the count and throwing hittable strikes," Lippert said.