In his 26 years of coaching and playing baseball at the collegiate and professional level, Robbie Wine has never seen a season begin the way this one did.
After snow canceled Penn State's opening series last week, the baseball team traveled to Florida for the second annual Big Ten/Big East Challenge to open up the season this weekend -- one unlike any other for the coach and the players.
All three games, which were played against Cincinnati, St. John's and Notre Dame, went into extra innings, and all three ended with the home team walking off for the win, two of which were in Penn State's favor.
"You know, I don't think I have," Wine said about being apart of a season opening weekend like this year's.
"It was kind of crazy, but the way the guys responded every inning and every pitch, they stayed after it all the way up until the last fly ball."
The series started against Cincinnati and the Nittany Lions on the verge of a loss going into the ninth inning.
After freshman Steve Snyder tied the game with a two-out triple as Penn State's last hope, sophomore Joey DeBernardis won the game with a walk-off single in the 12th inning.
Saturday's game against Seton Hall had a similar feel, as Penn State tied the game in the eighth inning and walked off with the victory in the 13th inning thanks to a single by Mario Eramo.
"It was pretty crazy playing in what, like 35 innings in three games?" DeBernardis said. "All three games were real exciting, but especially the first two with walk-off hits and being able to start off the season with the first two wins."
The third game against Notre Dame had all the pieces to end the weekend for Penn State with three extra-inning wins in three games. Down by one in the ninth inning, the Lions tied the game off a Ben Heath home run, his third of the weekend.
However, a Notre Dame fly ball got caught up in the wind and dropped in for an error, allowing the Fighting Irish to cross home plate for their own walk-off victory.
"It's definitely a first for me," Heath said after letting out a laugh. "I probably didn't have three extra-inning games all of last year. It's kind of like two extreme highs and then a low. Losing a game like that is tough when it's a close game the whole way. It kind of comes down right to the wire."
And though the team lost a heartbreaker Sunday, Wine saw a lot of positives in the loss and the weekend as a whole.
He was impressed with how his players simply did what they needed to do by putting together good at-bats and throwing one pitch at a time while not worrying about the things beyond their control.
During the loss to Notre Dame, Wine's team saw its backs against the wall as Notre Dame had players on second and third with only one out. The coach called on freshman Steven Hill, and the young pitcher struck out both opposing batters to send the game into extra innings.
Hill was one of many players who provided a big performance for the Lions through the course of the weekend, something Wine is excited about going into the season.
"The big thing that stands out with me is that we got guys to come out in roles that were suited for them," Wine said. "It's real important for us to know that it's not just one or two guys we can count on.
"There are 10, 11 guys on the pitching staff and 15 guys who are position players, and everybody is going to contribute and do their own part."
