UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- One characteristic the Penn State baseball team has displayed so far this season is resiliency.
After collecting another victory on Saturday over UMass Lowell, the program is off to one of its best starts in recent history. Last year, the team went 15-34, and after 15 games, was 6-9, whereas the team currently sits 12-3 in 2019.
Through the dynamic opening stretch, head coach Rob Cooper finds that he is learning a lot from his players.
"I'm taking my lead from the players. In many ways, up to this point, I'm not doing a ton of stuff differently. Those guys believe they can win. They believe that they're a good team. They believe that it doesn't matter what the situation is, that they can battle and stay in the game," Cooper said.
But it's not just the improvement from last year to this year that showcases the team's resilience. The team also can win in high-stress situations, like Saturday's 7-6 nail-biting victory over UMass Lowell that proves just how committed the players are to one another.
In a tough stretch of the game, sophomore Kyle Virbitsky's ability to stay calm and keep fighting demonstrates the resiliency that Penn State has in 2019. He dealt with a bases-loaded jam three times in the 2.1 innings pitched and managed to come away with the win.
"It's cold, your emotions are high, it's just a high-intensity game, but when I was out there, I felt like I was in control. I mean I'm not going to say I didn't know the bases were loaded, but I felt like I was in a situation I could handle and I was in a good spot to get out of it. I was a pitch away most of those times. It was what it was, and I just made the best of it and tried to give us a shot to win."
UMass Lowell scored three runs in the ninth inning, all unearned, due to the errors by Penn State. Instead of blaming his teammates, Virbitsky reiterates his confidence in his team.
"The guys that we have behind us, as a pitcher, I have 100 percent confidence in," Virbitsky said. "I trust those guys with just about everything I have. I know they're working as hard as they can. I know they know I'm working hard, and yeah we trust them a lot, so it was just a fluke."
On the offensive side, the team shined when it came to hitting, as seven of the team's 13 hits were extra-base hits, a season-high for 2019.
Cooper was happy to see such a strong showing from his hitters.
"We just got to keep getting better. I know that we're a better hitting team than what we've shown, so to see those guys do that today was good," Cooper said.
One of those extra-base hits came from freshman Justin Williams, who hit a two-run home run in the third inning to put the Nittany Lions on top at 2-0; it was Williams' first college career home run.
"It felt great. It's something to be very happy about," Williams said.
Cooper was proud of the freshman and knows he will continue to get better and better.
"Even though I know the wind was blowing out to right, for a right-handed hitter, to get one out of here to right field, that's pretty impressive. And he's only a freshman. I don't think he's anywhere close to being the kind of player he's going to be. And he's a hard worker and a good kid. When you can have guys like that do that, it strengthens your line up," Cooper said.
As for the nail-biter at the end of the game, Williams trusts in the team and its ability to succeed.
"I think we just got to keep working. I have a lot of confidence in all of our guys, so I don't think it's going to be a problem for us, but sometimes there are those types of days, and baseball is baseball, so I think we're fine," Williams said.
The Nittany Lions host the final game of the series against UMass Lowell on Sunday, March 17th at noon.
