Players smacked high-fives as their cleats tapped a victorious march on the cement floor leading to the Penn State baseball team's locker room.
Each time the locker room door swung open yesterday, hip-hop music blared louder. But players could still be heard from the hallway congratulating one another on their 10-1 rout of No. 22 Michigan at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
Penn State senior Rob Yodice emerged from the locker room wearing a tidy Yankees hat. The senior from Staten Island went 2-for-5 with three RBIs in the final game of a four-game series against the Wolverines.
The victory marked the Nittany Lions' first win against a top-25 team this season.
"[Yesterday] was big, but we didn't take it like a life or death," Yodice said. "We went out there, did our thing, played hard, prepared well for the game and we won."
The mindset was much different on Saturday evening. As they stretched a tarp over the diamond after three losses to Michigan, some Penn State players' faces were twisted into dejected scowls. Others stared blankly across the field as clouds hung overhead.
Penn State (9-17, 3-5 Big Ten) only scored five runs compared to Michigan's 10 in the series' first three games. During Saturday's doubleheader, the Penn State offense sputtered as batters connected for only seven hits in 14 innings.
Lions coach Robbie Wine looked exhausted and said he was "terrible" as he waited to talk to his team on Saturday. Yesterday, Wine looked revitalized by the win that salvaged the series.
"The way the league goes, you can't get swept, and sweeping is so important," Wine said. "In the standings, that one game swing is going to pay off in the end.
"In baseball you have to have a short memory. I hope in some aspect they didn't forget [about Saturday], because you have to learn from that."
Wine's wishes came true. The Penn State lineup worked the Michigan pitching staff for 10 hits in front of 1,132 fans -- the largest crowd yet this season at Medlar Field.
Senior Ryan Stobart started for Penn State and pitched seven solid innings. He gave up six hits and struck out two Wolverines before he was relieved in the eighth by freshman Calvin Grumley. Drew O'Neil closed the ninth inning for Penn State.
Senior co-captain Joe Blackburn, who went 1-for-3 with an RBI yesterday, said the team needed to start swinging the bats to help out its pitchers. Junior Mike Wanamaker only allowed two hits in seven innings on Saturday afternoon, but the run support wasn't there.
If Saturday was the chance for Penn State to show off its pitching staff, yesterday was the offense's coming out party.
"I think everyone stepped up today," Blackburn said. "There wasn't any letdown throughout the lineup. We scored runs with our seven, eight, nine guys at the plate and on the bases, and we scored runs at the top of our order and the middle of our order."
Wine said he noticed some of his players stepped into bigger leadership roles with the way they responded yesterday. He added that his players impressed him with "the way they handled themselves."
"I really think we're going to take off at some point, somewhere," Wine said. "Can't put your finger on it
