Instead of suiting up in the usual white jerseys worn during a midweek-home game at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, the Penn State baseball team put on its solid-blue practice jerseys Tuesday.
For the first time since the week of March 15, the Nittany Lions had no games scheduled on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Instead, the baseball team used its couple of days off to refocus, regroup and work through basic drills.
"Get some of that blood going, get in whatever they need to do," outfielder Ryan Boonie said of time spent during the week off. "To take the time to do what you need to do always helps."
Boonie spent Tuesday in the indoor batting cages in the clubhouse of Medlar Field, where the green netting that hung from the low-roofed area resembling a boiler room prevented baseballs from bouncing off the ceiling.
Boonie said he also took the opportunity to hit off a tee and work on his throwing outside before the afternoon rain chased the practice back indoors.
Inside the long, white, empty hallways of the clubhouse, other Lion ballplayers floated from room to room. Some players relaxed for a bit in the locker room while others went across the hall to lift weights, like relief pitcher Dave Lutz, who was lying facedown on a bench while lifting free weights from the floor to his sides.
Before that, Lutz and a handful of other hurlers spent time throwing in the bullpen, where they worked on hitting their spots and refining pitching motions.
"You can't think about mechanics when you're on the mound, but you can when you're in the pen," Lutz said.
"But that's impossible when you have to throw in a game every other day."
Lutz added the "off week showed up exactly at the time we needed it" because the team had the opportunity to reenergize and regain a mental focus.
The reliever went on to say after a rough stretch of games, like this past weekend at Indiana when the team was dropped 15-1 and 3-2 Saturday during a doubleheader, that he would have rather had midweek games so the team could get back on the field and redeem itself.
"But you can't always get back on the field, and when you can't, [a day off] is just an awesome opportunity," Lutz said.
Freshman third baseman Jordan Steranka, who also took part in indoor batting practice and throwing drills Tuesday, said he thought a day of individual drills was more beneficial to the team than getting thrown right back into game action.
"We need to kind of just relax, get focused, relax our sorenesses," Sternaka said.
"We can clear our minds a little, not think about baseball, not think about the past, and just be focused for this weekend."
