For a few moments, the tarp was pulled off and it looked like a mostly empty Medlar Field at Lubrano Park might see some baseball after all Tuesday night.
But a few minutes passed, the rain kept up and soon the tarp covered the infield again and bad weather postponed a non-conference tilt with Pittsburgh for the second consecutive week.
"With our field, it drains well," said senior Mike Deese, who was penciled into the No. 3 spot in the lineup as the designated hitter. "We've played some pretty rainy games the past couple weeks, so you never know. You gotta stay ready the whole time.
"But when they put it back on, I knew there would be a slim chance of us coming back out there."
Last Tuesday's Penn State-Pittsburgh matchup was postponed a day in advance because of snow in the forecast. This time, the Panthers made the trip to State College only to get turned back west.
As of Tuesday night, no make-up date had been announced yet, although both teams have open dates next week. The clubs are also scheduled to meet April 28 in Pittsburgh.
"I guess someone doesn't want us to play them," Deese said with a laugh. "But I want to get these guys. The Penn State-Pitt thing is always big, so a chance to play them is big."
The Nittany Lions are scheduled to return to the diamond at 6:35 tonight against Mount St. Mary's.
Although a Tuesday night AccuWeather forecast showed possible showers in State College, the team hopes to play a game before heading on the road to Indiana for a weekend series.
"Well, we have our cages so we'll do something [today]," Deese said. "But hopefully we can get it in and have a little tune up for this weekend. We'll get our work, but it would be nice to get a game in before we go to Indiana."
Even without a game Tuesday, the Lions did get a chance to take some early batting practice -- as well as have some fun during the wait.
"Rain delays are just always a time to goof off for us in the locker room," Deese said. "But we'll be ready to go [today] mentally, and we'll come back in, get our work in [this morning] and be ready to go."
