STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (May 10, 2003) - Junior catcher Matt Harter (Centre Hall, Pa.) had a two-run double and junior Jim Farrell (Harleysville, Pa.) pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless ball in relief to help Penn State to a 3-2 victory over Illinois in Game 1 of a doubleheader Saturday at Beaver Field.

Joe Ziemba kept the Nittany Lion offense off balance by pitching a three-hit shutout in a 3-0 win that kept the Fighting' Illini's slim playoff hopes alive in Game 2.

Penn State pulled to within one game of .500 for the first time since it was 2-3 after defeating Pennsylvania in Game 5 of the season on Mar. 11 at the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic Touranment in Fresno, Calif. But Zieba's three-hit, three strikeout shutout in Game 2 not only kept the Nittany Lions from evening their record, but it was also the first time they were shutout since the season-opener Feb. 28 at No. 3 Arizona State.

The two teams will play the series finale in a rare 11:00 a.m. start Sunday at Beaver Field. The game will be carried live by ESPN Radio WMAJ 1450 AM and a link to listen can be found at www.GoPSUsports.com.

Sophomore Josh Palm (Conneaut Lake, Pa.) was cruising in a scoreless game and had a no-hitter going into the fourth inning before Brandon Cashman broke it up with a double over rightfielder Derrick Barr with two out in the inning. Palm got out of the inning without any damage being done and took a 2-0 lead into the fifth on Harter's two-run double to left-centerfield.

But Palm ran into trouble in the fifth inning after hitting Sean Patrick with a pitch. Three straight two-out singles by Eric Eymann, Drew Davidson and Andy Schutzenhofer, respectively, tied the game at 2-2. Palm was pulled for Farrell and Davidson was picked off third base by Harter to end the inning.

Palm gave up two runs on four hits and struck out three over 4.2 innings in the no-decision. Farrell gave up just one hit, struck out two and walked four to pick up his sixth win.

Senior Wes Reohr (Mechanicsburg, Pa.), who received the team's F. Joseph Bedenk Award as most valuable member at the team's end-of-season banquet Friday night, plated senior Zack Smithlin (Fair Lawn, N.J.) with a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the fifth inning to complete the scoring and give Penn State its third straight win.

Smithlin's speed created havoc and the scoring opportunity in the fifth inning. He reached on a bunt and moved to second as third baseman Chad Frk's throw sailed into right field. Smithlin moved over to third on a sacrifice bunt by Barr and then scored on Reohr's sac fly.

Ziemba walked two batters in the first inning of Game 2, but got the Big Ten's reigning Player of the Week to pop up to second base to end the inning. Ziemba then retired eight straight batters before Harter singled to centerfield in the fourth inning to break up his no-hit bid.

The Fighting Ilini got all the runs they would need in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Schutzenhofer and an RBI single by Patrick.

They added an insurance run in the seventh inning when Eymann grounded into a doubleplay with runners on first and third to score Joe Parenti.

Junior Aaron Tressler (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa.) suffered the loss in Game 2 despite a fine effort. He gave up three runs on 10 hits, struck out two and walked just one over seven innings.

Penn State's record sits at 22-24 overall and 14-13 in the Big Ten while Illinois is 25-23, 10-16. The Nittany Lions moved into fifth place in the Big Ten playoff race with five conference games left.