Prior to the Penn State baseball team's game against Centenary on Feb. 18, Scott Gaffney had not been a starting pitcher since he was 12 years old.

But with the Nittany Lions seeking their first win of the year -- they were 0-3 at the time -- the junior from Westbury, N.Y., didn't allow the eight-year layoff to affect him in his first start since Little League.

Gaffney, who is also Penn State's starting shortstop, allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings against Centenary three weekends ago, and more importantly, he picked up the win in the Lions' (2-5) first victory of the young season.

"I was really relaxed every inning with him because I felt like he's not going to hurt himself," Penn State coach Robbie Wine said. "He's going to throw strikes. He'll field his position, and he has a good pick-off move that keeps guys close and holds the running game -- everything you want."

The right-handed hurler's performance, which included five strikeouts, only three walks and one picked-off runner, not only kept the coaching staff calm but also earned him recognition as that week's Big Ten Pitcher of the Week.

"It was exciting. Really, I didn't expect it," said Gaffney, who is the fourth Penn State pitcher to receive the award in the last two years.

"You just try and go out there ... You're not pitching for any awards, you're just trying to do your best to make sure the team does well. That was pretty much my main concern," he added.

Gaffney followed up his starting pitching debut at Penn State with another strong showing in Sunday's 5-4 loss against No. 1 North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Although he got the loss, he gave up eight hits and five runs, only two of which were earned, in 5.1 innings of work, and kept his team in position to upset the top-ranked Tar Heels for the second time in as many days.

Gaffney, who sits at 1-1 with a 3.97 ERA, joined the starting rotation during the off-season after receiving few pitching opportunities as an underclassman. In his first two years with the Lions, he made 12 relief appearances, amassed a 2-2 record and a 4.20 ERA in 15 innings pitched.

The addition of Gaffney brings more depth to Penn State's already-deep pitching staff, but it did not come without some major adjustments -- the most drastic being the change he made from making short-term pitching stints (one or two innings) to long-term ones (six or seven innings).

"That was the biggest difference for me," Gaffney said. "You have to pace yourself a little more.

"I was [used] to coming in and just letting things go ... just see how hard I could throw it. Now, you have to pace yourself and really know how to pitch, know what to throw in different counts, and all that type of stuff."

Since returning to Happy Valley in August, Gaffney has worked with Lions' pitching coach Jason Bell on increasing his time on the mound.

Bell coached at Oklahoma State with Wine after playing his college career there. He pitched for three years with the Cowboys and is currently third on the school's all-time list for career victories with 31.

"Basically, [Gaffney's] still going out there with the same type of stuff he had when he was a reliever, except now we're extending him," Bell said.

For the past couple months, Bell and Gaffney have worked on "stretching him out" by putting him in a long-toss program and constantly building up his pitch counts during intrasquad scrimmages.

Their combined effort has paid off so far for Gaffney and quickly moved him into the role of Sunday starter, whose duty is to close out a weekend series on a positive note -- something that Gaffney would rather do more often than win a Player of the Week award.

"As long as I go out there and give my team a chance to win -- I think that's the main part," he said.