Bloomington, Ind., May 6, 2002 Penn State opened up a 9-2 lead after four and a half innings of play and never looked back as it defeated Indiana 14-9 on Monday afternoon in Bloomington. The win marked the Nittany Lions’ sixth in their last seven games overall and allowed them to claim the four-game series with the Hoosiers three games to one.

After failing to win each of its first four Big Ten series, Penn State has rebounded to win each of its last two.

Chris Wright (State College, Pa.) led a 15-hit offensive outburst for Penn State with two home runs, two doubles and seven RBI.

With the victory Penn State improves to 21-23 overall and 10-13 in the Big Ten while Indiana falls to 29-15 overall and 10-11 versus league foes.

Wright got things going for Penn State offensively when he blasted a solo home run in the top of the first to give the Lions an early 1-0 advantage. Clint Eury (Butler, Pa.) plated the second run of the frame with a run-scoring single.

Penn State added four more tallies in the top of the second on the strength of Wright’s second long ball of the game, a two-run shot, and a two-RBI double by Wes Reohr (Mechanicsburg, Pa.).

After a Cody Wargo double drove in a pair during the bottom of the second to trim the Penn State lead to 6-2, Matt Harter (Centre Hall, Pa.) keyed a three-run Penn State fifth with a two-run shot, his third round tripper of the season, to up the margin to 8-2. Wright ripped his second RBI double later in the inning to make the score 9-2.

Joe Kemp knocked a three-run blast for Indiana in the bottom of the fifth to get the Hoosiers to within 9-5 but Penn State responded with three more tallies in the top of the sixth, which was sparked by Wright’s second double of the contest which scored a pair.

Indiana fought back with a pair of runs in the seventh and single tallies in both the sixth and eighth innings but it wasn’t enough as the Lions hung on for the 14-9 win after plating a pair of insurance runs in the top of the eighth.

Jared Hopwell (1-0) (Watsontown, Pa.) earned the win after allowing eight runs and 12 hits over six innings of work. Matt Rice (2-3) was hit with the loss for Indiana after giving up six runs and five hits over two innings.

Reohr finished the contest 4-for-5 with four runs scored and three RBI while Eury added a pair of hits and two RBI.

Kemp finished 3-of-5 for the Hoosiers with three runs and three RBI while Nick Evans and Gibran Hamdan added three hits apiece in the loss.

Penn State continues its current road swing on Friday, May 10 when it travels to Champaign, Ill., to battle Illinois in the first game of a four-game conference series at 6:35 p.m. (CT).