April 16, 2015
By Matt Allibone, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Weekends never are a vacation for the Penn State baseball team.
That's because the Nittany Lions typically have a series against a Big Ten team from Friday to Sunday. This weekend will be no different, when the Lions hit the road to face Minnesota in a three-game test.
As important as those games are, that doesn't mean the Lions don't take the rest of their schedule seriously, something they proved this week by winning back-to-back contests against West Virginia (5-3) and Bucknell (11-2).
"These games are huge," head coach Rob Cooper said. "These games are just as important to us as the conference games, because at the end of the day, they all go towards our record. As we go forward, these games go towards whether you're good enough to play in a regional. They're important."
Though it would be easy for the Lions to get complacent against non-conference teams, they have a done a good job staying locked in no matter their opponent as of late. Since March 17, Penn State is 6-1 in midweek contests.
No only does every game affect the Lions record and keep them sharp for the weekends, they also give some of team's less heralded players the chance to prove themselves.
On Wednesday against Bucknell, it was a pair of sophomores in pitcher Tom Mullin and outfielder Nick Riotto that responded to those opportunites. Typically a reliever, Mullin gave up just one run in five innings in his first career start while Riotto went 1 for 2 with an RBI single and scored three runs in his 15th start of the season.
"A perfect example is Nick Riotto, who's had two really good games," said Cooper. "If we didn't look at these games as important than, well right now I'm really thinking that we probably need to have him in the lineup somehow Friday. But if we didn't look at these games the exact same way that wouldn't be a consideration.
"[Tonight] shows that Tom can do it. If someone gets hurt or down the road if we need someone to start he showed he can do it. I'm proud of him because it's part of the whole learning process."
In Minnesota, the Lions will face a team that is 13-19 and just one spot ahead of them in the conference standings. While Penn State's last two weekends brought tough challenges in Ohio State (24-9) and Michigan (21-16), the players aren't looking past the Gophers.
After all, the Lions know first hand how tightly contested games in the Big Ten can be, having beaten Michigan and Indiana once while losing to Ohio State by one twice. With the Gophers coming off a 13-5 win over North Dakota State on Tuesday, both teams will be riding some momentum into the series.
"These past two games are huge, especially going into this weekend," sophomore shortstop Jim Haley said. "We're not trying to put a Big Ten in front of it, I mean it's an important series for us, but we're just trying to carry that momentum over and at the minimum play 27 innings, just play our game."
With five Big Ten weekends left this season, the Lions aren't looking to waste games against anyone. As challenging as this season has been at times, the Lions feel good having won two straight and four of their last six.
"[Our morale] is definitely up right now," Mullin said. "After Michigan I would say it was tough, but yesterday it was up after that win (over West Virginia)."
"Our team morale is definitely up," Haley added. Maybe we didn't have the result we wanted against Michigan but day in and day out, from the lift to the practice, our morale is up, it has to be."