State College, Pa., May 17, 2002 — Michigan State exploded for eight runs in the fourth inning and six more in the sixth as it rolled to a 16-7 win over Penn State Friday afternoon in the opening game of the final series of the regular season for both teams.

The Spartans tagged Penn State pitchers for a total of four home runs in the contest, including a grand slam by Travis Gulick in the sixth. Bob Malek, Chris McCuiston and Kyle Geswein each recorded a round tripper to spark a 17-hit offensive performance for the Spartans.

With the loss Penn State falls to 23-27 overall and 11-16 in Big Ten action. The Spartans improve to 33-17 overall and 13-12 versus league foes with the victory.

Mike Derenzo (Murrysville, Pa.) gave Penn State an early lead in the bottom of the second as he knocked in Brett Showalter (Waynesboro, Pa.) and Clint Eury (Butler, Pa.) with a double down the line to give the Lions an early 2-0 advantage.

The lead was short lived as Michigan State erupted for eight runs in the top of the fourth. The offensive outburst was ignited by McCuiston and Geswein, who opened the frame by blasting back-to-back solo home runs off Nittany Lion starting pitcher Mike Watson (Altoona, Pa.). After the Spartans drove in four more runs via a pair of RBI fielder’s choices and two run-scoring singles, Geswein returned to the plate and did some more damage as he plated two runs on a double to left center.

Penn State (23-27, 11-16 Big Ten) trimmed the lead to 8-3 in the bottom of the fourth as Showalter scored his second run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Adam Warchal (Nanticoke, Pa.).

Following a Michigan State run in the top of the fifth which made the score 9-3, John Richmond drilled a two-out, two RBI single in the bottom half of the fifth to pull Penn State to within 9-5.

Galick blew open the game for the Spartans in the sixth as he blasted a grand slam off Nittany Lion reliever Arin Gelletly (Dayton, Md.) to increase the Michigan State advantage to 13-5. Penn State pitcher Kevin Damiano (Mt. Airy, Md.) entered the game later in the sixth to relieve Gelletly and was greeted by Jared Koutick, who ripped a two-RBI double down the left field line to round out the scoring in the sixth and give Michigan State a 15-5 edge.

Wes Reohr (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) hit a solo home run and Eury plated Warchal with an RBI groundout for Penn State in the bottom of the sixth to round out the Nittany Lions’ scoring.

Watson (6-4) took the loss for Penn State after allowing eight runs, three of which were earned, and eight hits over 3.2 innings of work. Bryan Gale earned the win for Michigan State while giving up seven runs and 11 hits over six innings. Dylan Putnam held the Nittany Lions hitless over the final three innings to notch his first save of the season.

Reohr, Warchal and Richmond paced Penn State at the plate in the loss as each finished with two hits.

Penn State and Michigan State will resume its Big Ten series on Saturday, May 18 with a doubleheader at Beaver Field beginning at 1:00 p.m. (ET).