Four runs in the bottom of the first inning -- usually a good sign that the game is going the home team's way.

But when that home team is the Penn State baseball team, new coaches adjusting to new players and vice versa, four runs in the first inning doesn't ensure breathing room.

"Believe it or not, I was a little worried what was going to happen after that," Penn State baseball coach Robbie Wine said, "because of a let down and what not."

The final score said otherwise: a 15-4 victory against St. Bonaventure.

The middle innings have been the area where the most damage is done against the Nittany Lions.

In the first game against James Madison last Saturday, Penn State let seven runs go by in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The most the Bonnies could muster in the fourth was one.

Sophomore starting pitcher Steve Cline was able to get through the crucial inning with just the one-run scratch, on his way to going five.

Cline's outing was his first start of the year, and the 6-foot-5 lefty made a strong case for his inclusion in the starting rotation.

"He was about 75 or 80 pitches," Wine said. "I think that was about at where we wanted to be. He hadn't pitched for a while so that was perfect for him."

Cline did get into trouble in the beginning of the sixth inning, walking a second Bonnie baserunner with no outs.

Wine brought in sophomore Matt Ogrodnik to bail Cline out, and even though Ogrodnik still let Cline's two runs get past the plate, the Nittany Lions had knocked in seven runs of their own to combat the Bonnies' three.

Any chance the Bonnies had of working their way back into the game was thrown out the window when the relievers worked into the lineup.

After Ogrodnik came Matt Carroll, then freshman Gary Amato making his first appearance on the mound.

Fellow freshman Scott Gaffney closed out the game, and Wine indicated that Gaffney would be filling in the role of closer since Clint Eury's injury.

"We're going to use Gaffney in that closing role," Wine said. "[Josh] Palm is going to be our starter and we're going to be watching his pitch count [today vs. Bucknell] so he can bounce back and maybe pitch one of those Saturday games at Purdue. I feel comfortable with Gaffney. He fields his position, he'll hold runners, he's got a strikeout pitch. He throws strikes."