One-run games can make a team great, but the Penn State baseball team has made a habit of shooting itself in the foot this season.

So far the Nittany Lions (3-11) have dropped six of their first seven games when the slimmest of margins decides the outcome, including the final two games of the spring break trip.

"We're just not winning as a team," Penn State coach Robby Wine said.

The Lions look to find some key hits and some timely pitching as they travel to play a weekend series again Furman (9-6), which begins at 2 p.m. tomorrow in Greenville, S.C.

If stats were the only deciding factor in a game, then the Lions should be around .500. But unfortunately for Penn State, games are decided on the field.

The Lions' offense has outhit most of its opponents during innings one through six but have gone ice cold with the game on the line, which doesn't concern the second-year coach. The Lions have scored a combined 10 runs in the final three innings -- sans the nine-run outburst against Sacred Heart.

But if there was one team the Lions' bats could get confidence from, it would be Furman. The Paladins pitching staff hasn't been lighting the world on fire, as their starters have a combined 4.57 ERA and a team ERA of 4.70.

"We don't have a very powerful pitching staff," Furman coach Ron Smith said. "So all we want to do is not throw the game away."

The pitching side for Penn State has been just like the lineup -- great in the first six innings and then it falls off the proverbial cliff after that.

Senior ace lefthander Alan Stidfole has been solid on the mound, but it hasn't shown up in his win-loss record because of the team's inability to hold late leads.

But that isn't the starters' problem, as it's the guys who have pitched in the seventh through ninth that haven't pulled their weight. The main horses in the bullpen have combined for an
ERA of 6.23 and a record of 1-4.

"We're just going to keep pitching our game," Penn State pitching coach Jason Bell said. "We're going to pitch our strengths, not throw to their weaknesses.

If a batter is a curveball pitcher and [Stidfole]'s on the mound, he's still going to see the pitch."

That strategy will be put to the test against the Paladins. Furman is hitting .323 as a team this season, with junior Tony Maccani leading the way with a .400 average and 14 RBI.

"We're the type of team that just likes to move runners over and get hits with two outs," Smith said. "We have to continue to do that if we want to win. [Penn State]'s played a pretty hard schedule so their record is no indication of how good they really are."

Penn State must start living up to that the early season because there are only four more games before the Big Ten portion of their schedule.

"We're a lot further ahead than we have been in recent years," Stidfole said. "The guys have been seeing a lot of tough situations. [Being in one-run games] has been very beneficial for us."