Hoosiers searching for 1st conference series win on road against Penn State

The IU baseball team will play a road game for the first time in two weeks and try to move closer to making the Big Ten Tournament this weekend. The Hoosiers are set for a four-game series against the Penn State Nittany Lions in University Park, Pa.\nIU (15-23, 5-11 Big Ten) finished 5-5 on its recent 10-game home stand and fell behind early in many games only to see rallies come up short.\n"To make the tournament we have to clean everything up," senior center fielder Reggie Watson said. "It's been frustrating the way we've been playing early in games. We need to play the whole game."\nDespite being in last place in the Big Ten, IU finds itself only three games behind Michigan State for the sixth and final spot in the conference tournament at the end of the season.\nIU is searching for its first conference series win of the season and would leap frog Penn State in the standings if they were to sweep. Penn State is currently two games ahead of IU in the standings and has won three of its last five games. \nBoth teams won their mid-week games -- Penn State defeated Bucknell 14-6 and IU beat Miami of Ohio 5-0. The Hoosiers won behind a one-hit shutout by sophomore Doug Fleenor and a 10-hit offensive attack. \n"In the innings we scored, we got the lead off guy on, bunted him over and got the hit," IU coach Tracy Smith said of the offense. "We have to do the little things well, and we did." \nPenn State (14-25, 7-9 Big Ten) is led by senior outfielder Lance Thompson, who is hitting .376 with three home runs and 34 RBIs. The Nittany Lions are hitting .297 as a team but have struggled on the mound with a 5.34 team ERA. \nAdam Stidfole (2-2) will start game one for Penn State. Stidfole leads the team with 3.55 ERA. \nSenior left-hander Clint Crosier (2-3, 4.00 ERA) will take the hill for IU in game one. Crosier is coming off his first career complete game, allowing eight hits and four runs (three earned) in a loss to Ohio State. \n"It was one of those days where I felt like I could put it where I wanted it," Crosier said.\nSenior Josh Lewis (4-5, 5.30) will start game two for the Hoosiers, followed by sophomore Chris McCombs (1-2, 4.78) in game three and freshman Joe Vicini (3-2, 3.60) in game four. \nThis is the first time since 2003 that IU and Penn State have met. IU split a series at Penn State during the 2003 season. Then the two teams met in the conference tournament. Penn State holds a 26-21 lead in the all-time series. \nThe first pitch of the series is scheduled for 3 p.m. today at Beaver Park. Games two and three will be played as a double header starting at 1 p.m. Saturday, with the series finale set for 3 p.m. Sunday.