This weekend the Tartans are coming to Governor's Park in Bellefonte to face the Penn State baseball club.

The Tartan, not to be confused with the Michigan State Spartan, is the mascot of Carnegie Mellon, the team Penn State will face tomorrow in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. and continuing Sunday at 11 a.m.

Carnegie Mellon is in its second year in the National Club Baseball Association and will meet Penn State for the second straight season as a member of the New Penn West Conference.

"Last year when they were a first year program we beat them three times at their place," Penn State coach Bill Lippert said. "They were a first-year team and I was actually impressed with them."

Penn State outscored the Tartans 25-0 in last year's three-game series. The Tartans managed only three hits the entire weekend and lost one contest by the mercy rule when Penn State went up by 10 runs.

"They didn't hit at all," Lippert said. "I think that had more to do with our guys pitching extremely well, which isn't any indictment on them."

Penn State's pitching staff looks as strong this season as it did last. Already junior Jason Shirey has earned the North Atlantic Conference-South Pitcher of the Week honors for his play in spring training.

In Shirey's only spring training start, he threw a complete-game shutout, while striking out eight and only allowing five hits and two walks.

Lippert said the Tartans are well coached, and their coaching staff is something that separates them from other teams.

Carnegie Mellon head coach Claudio Reilsono is in his second year with the team and is also the general manager and lead scout of the Global Scouting Bureau, the world's largest professional baseball scouting service.

Reilsono also has some Penn State ties. He was the head coach for Penn State-Beaver before going to Carnegie Mellon.

"He did a good job of getting that program off the ground," Lippert said. "I only see improvement for them. We're definitely not going to take them lightly."

This will be the club's first set of regular season games as last weekend's games against Kent State were rained out.

Lippert wants to get as many players as he can into this weekend's games, but he won't release his starting lineup until gameday.

The team hopes that there is nice weather in the forecast so that it can finally get back on the field.

"I don't know what the forecast is for this weekend," Lippert said. "Hopefully the fields are dry and we can start the season on the right foot."