In the land of tax-free shopping, the Penn State baseball team will also get a little two-for-the-price-of-one action tomorrow against Delaware.

The Nittany Lions (4-6) will head to Delaware (7-7) to take on the Blue Hens for a double-header starting at noon, and a third game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The Lions returned from a West Coast trip on which they went 3-3, and will now stay on the East Coast for the rest of the month. Though Penn State went only.500, there were signs of improvement, especially from the batter's box, that are promising.

"Being 4-6 we're not going to be pleased, so to say," Penn State pitching coach Jason Bell said. "We've learned a lot about our team in the last couple weeks. We got to see guys play and it was good baseball. We played well and we played bad at times too ... for us to get better, offensively, we have to get guys in when we have runners on base."

Currently the Lions have six regulars averaging over .300, compared to only one last season who finished over that mark. This year's team is also averaging 1.5 more runs a game than last year.

Delaware has a team ERA of 2.79 so the Lions' bats will need to stay hot. Right fielder Matt Lewis, who leads the team with a .474 average and 18 hits, attributes the fast start offensively to the new atmosphere brought on by new coach Robbie Wine.

"With the coaching philosophy, everything is wide open," Lewis said. "More running, more hit-and-runs. It'll change the game. It'll keep us in more games and hopefully win more games."

On the mound is where the Lions have struggled. In the six losses, three of them have come in games blown in the eighth or ninth inning.

"It's disheartening losing games by a run or a couple of runs in the last inning," Lewis said. "Just not being able to put teams away. Once we get up to full swing I think we'll be fine."

Delaware as a team hits only .259, but the Blue Hens are aggressive on the base paths and average three steals a game. Bell said that the pitchers have been killing themselves with walks, giving up more than four a game. Sean Stidfole (1-2), Alan Stidfole (0-1) and Craig Clark (0-0) will get the starts this weekend, though the order has not been set yet. Clark has been the bright spot in the rotation thus far, with a 1.69 ERA in three appearances (two starts).

Clark has struck out 19 batters and Sean Stidfole leads the team with 24. Delaware is a team that swings and misses a lot -- 8.7 strikeouts per game -- so the hurlers will have a chance to work out some early-season kinks and they hope to come home with three wins.

"When you go into a place like Delaware where you definitely are not the underdog," Sean Stidfole said, "you want to go in and take three. If you don't you do look at it as if you should have done that. You really can't underestimate any team whatsoever, though."