Today's game at Villanova won't mean very much for the Penn State baseball team -- but starting next year, midweek games will have a greater importance for Big Ten teams.
That's because next year the Big Ten will eliminate its four-game weekend schedule and move to a three-game weekend series, Valerie Todryk, assistant director of communications for the Big Ten, said yesterday.
The change will put an increased emphasis on midweek games because the team will play eight fewer conference games. Thus, to get the 40 wins that are necessary to qualify for an NCAA regional, Penn State must win more games that fall on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
"I'm in favor of it," Penn State coach Robbie Wine said. "All [a four-game weekend] does is kill our pitching, and midweek baseball is not what it should be."
Wine added that his team will have to find eight non-conference games -- like a contest at 3:15 p.m. today at Villanova -- to fill out its 56-game schedule.
All major conferences already play three-game conference series.
"Midweek baseball, non-conference baseball, is helping your RPI, your league RPI and what we're doing -- four on the weekends sandwiched by one or two games -- is killing our pitching," Wine said.
Because Wine and the Nittany Lions need to find eight games to make up, there have been some ideas tossed around for what Penn State should do.
Wine is in favor of early season four-game trips, likely to the South.
The rest of the games would be made up in Tuesday and Wednesday games.
But the schedule change will suddenly make midweek games important to Big Ten teams, as the Lions won't be able to rest starters midweek because of the increased importance.
Wine added another benefit of a three-game series is creating a separation between teams within the conference, because every series will have a winner.
"I think you'll see an increase in the overall records of the Big Ten teams because they're not having to put all their pitching into the four-game crunch of the weekend," catcher Joe Blackburn said.
"Throw a guy who's actually a legitimate starter out there during the midweek."
Of course, the more midweek baseball that's played means the more time spent out of the classroom for the Lions or so it would seem.
Today's trip to Villanova is only the second time this season that Penn State has traveled during the midweek to play.
Earlier this month, the Lions beat Pitt 6-5 and then had to travel to Purdue.
But Blackburn isn't sure whether the new schedule will affect Penn State's time in the classroom.
"It might," he said. "But also it might not be having to leave so early on Thursdays for the weekends because you only got three games. I haven't really thought about time out of class but there's regulations on that so it's going to be watched closely, I'm sure."
