The Penn State club baseball team (5-4) will play its first baseball north of the Mason-Dixon Line this weekend at Beaver Field, hosting three games against Bucknell University (0-0).

The games will carry added weight as the first conference games of the season for the Lions, whose opponent has yet to play any official NCBA games at all. However, the Bison's lack of in-game experience shouldn't affect Penn State's preparation.

"We prepare to be the best possible baseball team that we can be every time that we can be, regardless of who we're playing," Penn State head coach Buck Kicinski said, adding that he did not have a chance to see any of the Lions' conference opponents play.

"We don't have the luxury of scouting in this league, as much as I would love to," he said.

Penn State is two and half weeks removed from a spring training trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., on which the Lions went 4-2 and rotated every player into games at least two times in order to fairly assess everyone.

Kicinski rated the trip a B-plus/A-minus, citing good defense and team resiliency as strengths. Down 5-0 in their first game versus Central Michigan, the Lions played shutout ball over the final six innings and won 12-5.

Both Kicinski and pitching coach Bill Lippert were impressed and pleased with the quality of pitching.

"There were [pitchers throwing] strikes with all three pitches, reading batters, no backing down," Lippert said. "They kept us in every game."

Three times the Lions held opponents under one run, including two five-inning performances by freshmen Ryan Frankeny and Peter Chalfin, in addition to a two-hit shutout by sophomore Greg Lisa. For a team that had been operating on short pitching stints, the success of these longer outings is encouraging.

Kicinski likes to establish a pitch count of 60-70 pitches when spring training rolls around. However, he was comfortable with Lisa pitching the entirety of the game, who had a perfect game through 5 1/3 innings.

"Spring break or not, without endangering the life span of this kid's arm, I'm going to leave him in," Kicinski said.

The Lions, already a fast and defensively good team, need to play fundamental mistake-free baseball and continue to have good pitching in order to be successful. That is the sort of game Kicinski coaches, and calls playing the right way.

"Nowadays, people call it small ball. I call it baseball," Kicinski said. "I've never seen any championships strictly by two guys hitting home runs all the time."

In addition to the team's coalescing of character and skills, off-the-field advantages of playing at home may help them this weekend. Not having to drive to North Carolina or any other site means lack of fatigue from driving and the lack of stress over getting back to school. One advantage, however, takes precedence.

"You get to sleep in your own bed, and I think that is way overlooked by a lot of people on the outside," Kicinski said.

Notes

The team has played just nine games this season and begins its conference slate this weekend versus Bucknell, but periodically monitoring positions and team progress provides good insights.

Pitching roles have been limited thus far, with seven different pitchers getting starts and only pitching a few innings in those games. Bullpen sessions in practice are spent correcting flaws in mechanics. Currently, senior Juan "Gaby" Diaz is a little bit long in his stride, which results in him keeping the ball up and seven earned runs over 2/3 innings.

Sophomore Greg Lisa's shutout brought his record to 2-0 on the season with a 1.56 ERA through nine innings. The key to his game is establishing his changeup, which looks deceptively like his fastball. Both have a lot of movement and break in on right-handed batters. When one comes in 5-10 m.p.h. slower than the other, it is a powerful one-two punch.

The team also finds strength behind home plate, where the Lions have two experienced catchers in junior Jon Felix and sophomore Joe Kozlowski.

"Jon is one of the better baseball minds I've come across since I've been here," Penn State head coach Buck Kicinski said, adding that he likes to work Felix with younger pitchers because he can work them through innings and tough batting lineups.

"Koz just has raw talent. A fabulous arm, a big, strong boy. [He has] a presence behind the dish," Kicinski said.

A third catcher, junior Ben Behler, provides a solid third option. Recently he has started to swing the bat better, one of his few weaknesses, and practicing taking outside pitches to the opposite field.

Statistical Interests

Junior first baseman Mark Mihalik leads the team in on-base percentage (.556), drawing eight walks in seven games played...His corner-infield counterpart, junior third baseman Nate Decker, leads the team with a .391 batting average (9-23)...Senior middle infielder Chris Connors appears to be the team's early offensive powerhouse, collecting two home runs and triple in 25 at-bats. He also leads the team in RBI with five...If power is Connors' game, speed appears to be junior Jason Crandall's, his middle-infield partner. Though he has struggled with a .143 average, he is a terror on the bases with six stolen bases, which lead the team...The Lions' outfield has had a steady rotation of players, but sophomore Ryan Fitzgerald makes an interesting baseball study. He leads the team in strikeouts with nine, is batting .333 with a good on-base percentage (.407)...Freshman Peter Chalfin has been lights-out so far this season, allowing one run over 7.33 innings this season in three games. His 11:2 strikeout to walk ratio leads the team.