As the halfway point of the regular season has just passed, it would be easy to say the Penn State baseball team hit that midseason wall last weekend.

Today at 1 p.m. at Beaver Field the Nittany Lions (19-12, 7-5 Big Ten) will have a little middle-of-the-week double dip action to move on from a weekend where they didn't so much get worse, but they didn't so much get better.

Penn State coach Robbie Wine said he might stir things up a little, starting in today's doubleheader. And against Norfolk State (10-30), a team that has been outscored by 125 runs this season, it might just be the time to do so.

"When you evaluate the whole weekend I feel like we stayed the same," Wine said. "We didn't get better. I felt like up to that point we were getting better. There might be a couple shakeups. We're gonna get some guys to the mound that haven't been to the mound yet, and if those guys get the job done we might have a roster change."

Penn State split this weekend's series against Minnesota but lost both games when the Golden Gophers came from behind to win. Neither starting pitching nor the bullpen was a premium and today's doubleheader will be a chance to showcase some arms that haven't seen as much action this season.

Freshman Gary Amato and sophomore Aaron Markowitz will be getting their first career starts for Penn State. Both have spent the first half of the season coming out of the bullpen, with Amato appearing in just two games and Markowitz in seven.

The Spartans' bats have not made contact with the ball too consistently this season, with a team average of .226. Third baseman Juan Serrano leads the team with a .361 average, but he is the only Spartan over .300.

"The biggest thing I've noticed is getting first pitch strikes," said Amato, who has given up three hits and no runs in two innings this season. "You have to locate offspeed pitches, too, because if you miss with them and get behind, [college batters] will just kill your fastball."

The mound won't be the only place changes are seen. Wine said Colin Runt would play both games all over the field. He also said that these two games would be important to get back on track and maybe even work out the comfy-ness of having an everyday position.

"Everybody who goes out to the mound will be competing for the job," Wine said. "A little of that is the reason that we got to this point in the year, and I sense guys are settling in positions for one reason or the other."

The Lions are expected to face Norfolk State pitchers Frankie Caldeyro (0-2) and Luke Foss (0-4). Caldeyro has not started a game this season but has appeared in 13 and is second on the team with a 4.41 ERA. Foss has started five games, giving up 24 runs in 24.1 innings.

Serrano is the only Spartan player to hit a home run this season on a team that has had 1,230 at bats to do so. Penn State, meanwhile, has three players with five or more and a team average of .305. That average, by the way, is just two points worse than Penn State's leading hitter last year.

The possibility of late afternoon thunderstorms might be the only thing to save the Spartans, but Wine and his Lions aren't looking at them lightly. Rather, Wine's hoping for a doubleheader sweep to get his team moving in the right direction for the second half of the season.

"I'm looking for a little spark, and I don't know what it is, whether it's settling for mediocrity," Wine said. "You have to have a drive. Each guy has to have a drive that motivates them every at bat, every pitch to be their best and I didn't sense that this weekend. Is there a problem? No. These guys are made of the right stuff."