With a steady rain driving down all game, inning after inning the grounds crew worked the field and added fresh dirt around the bases.
In addition to the rain, an endless parade of walks and hits prolonged the game to three-and-a-half hours -- nearly an hour more than the first two games of the series.
But most of the 1,009 onlookers stayed for the duration, with the majority watching from the cover of the concourse as Penn State beat No. 28 Ohio State, 15-11, Sunday afternoon at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
"The field held up pretty good," coach Robbie Wine said from the much warmer and drier Penn State clubhouse. "It was sloppy, but it's Big Ten baseball. You have to learn to play with a wet ball every once in a while."
After dropping the first two games of the series by the scores of 8-3 and 12-2, the Nittany Lions responded by posting 12 hits and 11 walks and chased Ohio State ace Alex Wimmers out of the game early.
The sophomore right-hander's last outing consisted of five innings of one-run baseball in leading the Buckeyes to a win against No. 2 Miami. But Sunday, State College didn't treat him as kindly as Coral Gables, Fla., did last Tuesday.
Wimmers struggled with his command from the start and walked five batters and allowed six runs in just two and one-third innings of work.
"Getting him out of the game was big, and we didn't help him whenever he was wild," center fielder Blake Lynd said. "We didn't chase pitches, and if we start chasing balls, that can get him back on his game. But we stayed disciplined and ended up getting him out of the game, so that was big."
Penn State scored six third-inning runs but still found itself trailing for the second time after a five-run Ohio State fifth knocked Lions' starter Calvin Grumley from the game.
The Lions quickly responded against the Buckeyes' bullpen and turned the fifth inning into a marathon. The first five batters of the inning scored, with a two-RBI Jordan Steranka single putting them ahead for good.
Penn State tallied two six-run innings in the game, each frame surpassing the total of five runs scored by the team in the series' first two games.
"We felt like we could've definitely hit those first two pitchers," Steranka said. "And we just had a little bit of a mental lapse, swinging at balls and letting strikes go by."
Fresh balls constantly had to be delivered to the umpire, and while Wine said the weather didn't appear to have a big impact on the pitchers, the day clearly belonged to the offenses.
And as the final outs were recorded in the ninth, a bit of sun finally took over the field, giving Texas-native Lynd a taste of his hometown weather after a 3-for-4 performance in which he reached base five times.
"It's usually sunshine in Texas, man," Lynd said with a laugh. "I'm not used to this, but it's still the same game though."
