In one-run games, good teams find ways to lose them and great teams find ways to win them.

The Penn State baseball team still hasn't crossed that threshold yet.

The Nittany Lions (0-6) lost all three games this weekend by that slim margin, losing to East Carolina, 4-3, No. 20 North Carolina State, 3-2, and finished up with a loss to West Virginia, 5-4, in 10 innings. Overall, the Keith LeClair Classic in Greenville, N.C., wasn't a positive experience for Penn State.

"We still need to get over that hump to win these games," Penn State baseball coach Robbie Wine said. "We are still looking for that clutch pitch or clutch hitting."

Penn State's lack of clutch hitting was most evident in the amount of people left on base, especially by the 3-4-5-6 hitters.

The Lions middle of the order combined for 13 men left on base for the three-game weekend. And it isn't surprising that they also combined to hit .258 (12-48), including Scott Gummo, Matt Lewis and Joe Blackburn all going 0-for-4 against N.C. State on Saturday.

The main reason behind the lack of production was the fact that the Lions' hitters were unable to make contact with the ball on the regular basis. Penn State recorded 26 strikeouts, which rounds to about a strikeout per inning. Wine believes that the problem is mental.

"There is a different mentality when hitting [when your team is] up, then when you are hitting [when your team is] down," he said.

The lone bright spot was the consistency of Lance Thompson, last week's Big Ten Player of the Week.

But it was still those runners left on base and strikeouts that turned out to be huge factors in the two bookend games of the series.

Penn State lost the opening game against East Carolina when the Pirates scored the game-winning run with one out in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Jake Smith.

"You have give credit to [Smith], he did a really good job," Wine said. "We were pounding him on the inside, and he just did his job against a really good pitcher."

The Lions had the perfect chance to break open the game in the eighth, when Gummo stepped into the box with the bases loaded and one out. Gummo hit a pop fly that should have scored a run, but Harrison Eldridge of East Carolina unleashed a rocket and cut the runner off at home to keep the game at 3-3.

The Lions wrapped up the weekend in another close battle with West Virginia. Penn State once again gave up the lead on a hit in the bottom of the 10th. After getting the first two batters out, the Mountaineers got a lucky hit, then were able to get runners on the corner after the Lions recorded their third error of the game.

And just like Friday, the opposing hitter came up with the clutch hit. This time it was Adam White's bloop single that was the deciding factor.

The lack of timely hitting wasted three solid pitching performances from Penn State's top three starters. Sophomore Mark Wyner and seniors Alan Stidfole and Craig Clark kept the Lions in every game but didn't get the support needed to pull off the victory.

"We pitched well enough to win this weekend," Wine said. "They got deep into the game and avoided deep counts."

Stidfole was the best of the three. The Lions ace had a tremendous outing in his start against East Carolina. He recorded a quality start, which included seven strikeouts to go along with zero walks and no earned runs.

A pitching line like that would usually spell victory, but the Lions defense bailed out East Carolina by committing three errors that all led to Pirates runs.

"We could have won all of these games if we executed better," Wine said. "Our confidence isn't there yet to be able to get those two-out hits. The guys are just pressing too hard right now."