No longer a two-sport athlete, Paul Cianciolo won't have to worry about getting up at daybreak anymore.
"I'm up later in the day now," Cianciolo said. "I'm not up at the crack of dawn running or doing various things with the football team. Definitely a little bit extra free time. Do a little bit better every time out ... But I'm having a great time with these guys."
Cianciolo, a pitcher, will get his third start of the season at 6:35 tonight at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park when the Penn State baseball team plays Bucknell.
It will be the second straight week Cianciolo is the starting pitcher for a midweek game, as he earned his first career victory when the Nittany Lions (14-10) beat Temple, 7-4. Cianciolo pitched six innings and surrendered only two earned runs.
Cianciolo, who was also the football team's backup quarterback in this season's Rose Bowl, said he didn't find out he would get the start until Monday afternoon.
The veteran will make an appearance for the second consecutive game tonight. Against Ohio State on Sunday, Cianciolo threw only 13 pitches out of the bullpen and retired just one batter before being replaced.
Despite the struggles, coach Robbie Wine said he isn't worried about Cianciolo bouncing back.
"No not at all," Wine said. "Shoot, that was throwing him out there in a Big Ten game. We wanted to keep his pitch count down because we were thinking about starting him Tuesday."
Although Cianciolo said he was pulled out a little bit earlier than he thought he would be, he said it's good the roles for the pitching staff are starting to be more defined.
He said that while pitchers are fitting into different molds, it's not unusual for Penn State to have pitchers come out of the bullpen to start a midweek game.
When it comes to these midweek games, the Lions understand the advantages and disadvantages.
Last week, Penn State played two road games on back-to-back days. Landon Nakata said such trips can have obstacles, but the second baseman added that when a team plays well in its last game, it can help to play with little layoff.
"Road trips are always a little pressed on time," Nakata said. "It works out fine -- you just get off the bus and play somebody."
As for the pitchers, Cianciolo does have history against the Bison (11-13).
Last season, he got the final seven outs to preserve an 8-3 win. He struck out three batters and while surrendering two earned runs.
Although Cianciolo said he prefers starting to coming in for relief, he still enjoys being a reliever. He said the challenge for that role is to be ready all the time.
If he could choose how he would spend a week, Cianciolo said the "best of both worlds" would be to start or come in for relief early in the week and then doing the other at the end.
He will get his chance tonight.
Still, Cianciolo remembers what it was like when performing two roles meant baseball and football.
"It was definitely a blast getting to do both last year," Cianciolo said. "I did the spring game and then coming over here catching a couple of games. Now it's just hopefully getting better at one thing. Hopefully, I'm a better pitcher now than I was this time last year. We're excited about moving forward."
