UNIVERSITY PARK Pa.- As the bright lights of Medlar Field at Lubrano Park went out on a warm Tuesday night in State College, the Nittany Lions found themselves in a conundrum.
The hazy scoreboard beyond the left field wall shadowing everyone that steps through the gates of Medlar Field displayed a tough result for the home team.
Yet, for those who stayed until senior Cole Bartels blasted a ball into the perfectly placed West Virginia shortstop's glove to end the game, it was clear Penn State had a lot of good to take away.
Earlier on an abnormally warm Tuesday evening in State College, freshman flame thrower Tommy Molsky cruised into the third inning. Giving up just one run in the first inning off an unlucky two-out triple and retiring the side in the second, Molsky seemed to find his stride.
However, the Mountaineers struck gold in the third inning, using base hits and creating pressure on the bases.
Now Penn State found itself digging out of a deep hole.
"When you're not doing well, other teams don't feel sorry for you. They just want to bury you," head coach Rob Cooper said.
That wouldn't be the case Tuesday night though. Penn State responded with a pair of two run home runs on offense. On defense, sophomore Carson Kohls held the Mountaineers at bay throwing three and two-thirds scoreless innings.
"Carson Kohls with an unbelievable outing allowed us to climb back in the game a little bit," Cooper said.
While the Nittany Lions ended the night on the disappointing end of an 8-4 final score, there's a lot of good they can take away from the game.
"You can take away (that) you can play with those guys. Baseball is a sport where the bigger team doesn't always win," Bartels said. "That one inning where they scored six early in the game, they kind of had the momentum, but after that we kind of proved we can handle them and scrap together some hits."
Bartels was one of two Nittany Lions who launched two-run homers in the game. He also singled and walked. Altogether Penn State finished with four runs on 11 hits.
"It doesn't matter who you're playing…If you're smart and look at them as a really good team and we played with them toe to toe. When we stop feeling sorry for ourselves, then yeah, that can be a huge `hey let's go'," Cooper said.
Penn State now turns its attention to a hefty conference opponent in the Purdue Boilermakers. This season Purdue holds a record of 21-7. In Big Ten play however, Purdue has only won three of its seven matchups.
The Boilermakers enter with a similar approach to West Virginia's small ball type of play. Lots of bunts and stolen bases will be a key feature of the weekend series. Purdue is ranked seventh in the nation in steals this season, converting on 70 of its 81 attempts.
Penn State is focused on the task at hand, though. Cooper expects his guys to be ready for the challenge when runners are on base.
"We talked briefly about their tendencies. They're kind of a gritty team, they like to run a lot, they'll bunt," Bartels said.
Cooper is focused on a combination of pitchers' due diligence on the mound and smart base coverage. Holding guys on base and not giving away bases will be two main talking points ahead of Thursday night's series opener.
"It's a combination of things…As a pitcher, you have to go a little bit faster, mix looks, pitch on a no look and vary the tempo so that a guy can't get an easy moving lead and time it up," Cooper said.
The Nittany Lions look to bounce back after Tuesday night's loss and win their first conference series of the year after losing the first three.
Purdue and Penn State will launch first pitches at 6 on Thursday and Friday night before wrapping up the series at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
