EAST LANSING, Mich. (May 13, 2005) - On the same day that final plans for a new baseball park were approved, the Penn State baseball team broke a four-game Big Ten losing streak by rallying for four runs in the top of the ninth inning to defeat Michigan State 7-6 at Kobs Field.

In his first appearance since re-breaking a bone in his non-throwing hand, senior southpaw Clint Eury (Butler, Pa.) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his fourth save.

The Nittany Lions improved to 26-21 overall with their second straight win, and they improved to 11-14 in the Big Ten. Michigan State dropped to 18-27 and 7-14, respectively.

The two teams will play Games 2 and 3 as part of a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday. Both games can be heard live on ESPN Radio WMAJ 1450 AM, and a link to listen will be available at www.GoPSUsports.com.

Senior Michael Milliron (DuBois, Pa.) and sophomore Travis Laird (Conneaut Lake, Pa.) had two hits each. Senior Josh Palm (Conneaut Lake, Pa.) picked up his second win by throwing 3.0 scoreless innings.

Trailing 6-3 entering the ninth inning, Penn State took advantage of two errors by Michigan State first baseman James Keyton to score four unearned runs off of starter Tim Day, who had a great pitching performance up until that point.

Freshman Brian Ernst (Boyertown, Pa.) started it all when he reached on Keyton's first error. Laird singled up the middle to put runners on first and second. Freshman Scott Gaffney (Westbury, N.Y.) laid down a sacrifice bunt, and Keyton fielded it, but his throw went wide, allowing Ernst to score to make it 6-4. Laird moved to third base, and Gaffney went to second base on the play. Junior Derrick Barr (So. Willamsport, Pa.) grounded out to score Laird, and move Gaffney over to third base. Day got a shallow fly out for his second out of the inning. But Milliron and junior Lance Thompson (Brisbin, Pa.) delivered back-to-back two-out RBI singles to give the Nittany Lions a 7-6 lead.

Penn State came back out for the ninth inning with Palm taking the mound for his fourth inning of work. Just as he started his warm up tosses, lightning was spotted and home plate umpire Mike Duffy had the players and coaches leave the playing surface.

Palm struck out one and gave up one hit in 3.0 scoreless innings, throwing just 24 pitches during that time.

After a 1 hour, 15 minute lightning delay, Eury came out to close the game out. It was Eury's school-best 14th career save. He gave up two hits, but also struck out two in the effort. It was also Eury's first pitching performance since he re-broke a bone in his non-throwing hand against Illinois on Apr. 29.

Michigan State got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning on RBI singles by Ryan Basham and Tony Clausen.

Penn State answered with one run on an RBI double by senior Arin Gelletly (Dayton, Md.) in the second inning.

But the Spartans answered in the bottom half of the frame on an RBI single by Troy Krider.

The Nittany Lions tied the game on an RBI single by junior Derrick Barr (So. Williamsport, Pa.), and an RBI groundout by Milliron in the fifth inning.

But once again, Michigan State responded, tallying three runs of its own in the next half inning. Erik Morris plated Ryan Sontag when he reached on an error, and Adam Tripp plated two runs on a single to give the Spartans a 6-3 lead.

Day cruised through the seventh and eighth inning, but his defense let him down in the ninth inning. Day finished by giving up seven runs, only two earned runs, on eight hits, while striking out a season-best eight, and walking none.

For more information on Nittany Lion baseball, please visit Penn State's official athletic website at www.GoPSUsports.com.

 Penn State 7 Michigan State 6 Penn State 010 020 004 - 7 8 2 Michigan State 210 030 000 - 6 11 4 Pitchers: PSU - Sean Stidfole, Josh Palm (6), Clint Eury (9). MSU - Tim Day, Drew Mahan (9). WP: Josh Palm (2-1). LP: Tim Day (4-6). Save - Clint Eury (4). Time: 3:50