After a four-game weekend sweep by Illinois pushed the baseball team's losing streak to five games, it at least got back on the winning side with a split yesterday.

Penn State (10-10) ended its losing streak in Maryland yesterday afternoon when it beat Towson State, 7-3, in the first game of a doubleheader. But Towson (11-7-1) came back in the second game and squeaked by Penn State, 6-5.

After struggling offensively against Illini pitching, the Lions finally had some success in the early game yesterday. In the fourth inning, with the Lions' Eric Gates on first base and Russ Mushinsky on third, Coach Joe Hindelang called for a double steal. The play worked as Mushinsky beat the throw to score Penn State's first run.

In the sixth, Derek Bochna tied the score at two when his single scored Kirk Rentschler, who had reached on a double.

Later in the inning, with two men on base, Gates came to the plate and hit a drive to left field that just barely cleared the fence. The home run was Gates' fourth on the year and gave the Lions a 5-2 lead that they would not relinquish.

The Lions cushioned an already strong lead in the seventh when Bochna singled again to score Ryan Wheeler and Pete Foote. In the bottom half of the inning, Chris Church came out of the bullpen to notch the last two outs for his third save of the season, preserving the win for freshman Justin Craig (2-1).

In the second game, Penn State was leading 5-1 going into the bottom of the fifth inning when Towson's Jay Longwood hit a three-run home run off of Dean Kerns.

Hindelang went to the bullpen and brought in Church. Church gave up a two-run double to Eric Wagner that proved to be the game winner. Church held in the sixth, but the Lions couldn't come up with any runs in the sixth or the seventh. Church (2-2) took the loss.

Penn State took a 2-0 lead on a first-inning single by Dave Hall. A single in the second by Chris Buzzi extended the lead to 3-0.

The Lions are off until Saturday when Michigan State comes to town for a four-game series.