All good things must come to an end, and winning streaks are not exempt.

The Penn State baseball team, which rode into this past weekend's series with Iowa as winners of its last seven, took just two of the series' four games. The Nittany Lions (16-17, 7-3 Big Ten) won Friday's opener 3-1, split Saturday's doubleheader — losing 7-6 and winning 1-0 — and dropped yesterday's finale 10-3.

Penn State's Dan McCall turned in his second straight complete game on Friday, limiting Iowa to just seven hits and striking out 11 as he out-dueled Hawkeye starter Steve Sharpe, who went all eight innings for Iowa.

"He really exudes an aura of confidence," said Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang of his senior southpaw. "I was as comfortable in the dugout as I have been when (former Penn State All-America pitcher Nate) Bump was here."

The Lions appeared to have Saturday's first game in the bag well before Iowa's Alex Dvorsky capped a two-run ninth inning rally with an RBI single. Freshman David Aardsma, who had kept the Hawkeyes scoreless for four innings prior to Dvorsky's at-bat, took the loss, his fifth of the year.

Penn State bounced back in the second game as Mike Watson, in his second start of the year, hurled the first complete-game shutout of the season by a Nittany Lion. Watson did not walk a batter and allowed just three hits while whiffing six. Chris Netwall singled in the winning run in Penn State's last at-bat to give the Lions the win.

Penn State suffered from erratic pitching and a few defensive breakdowns early on in yesterday's game, and never recovered from a 4-0 second inning deficit.

"We didn't get starting pitching, we didn't get relief pitching, we didn't get fielding and we didn't get timely hitting," Hindelang said. "If we can get good pitching and good defense, then we can stay in the game, and instead of being 10-3 or 9-2, it's maybe 3-1 and then it's a different atmosphere."

Senior Pete Yodis (3-5) never got into a rhythm yesterday and exited in the second after being tagged for four runs, all earned. Freshmen Clayton Hamilton and Aaron Tressler allowed five more runs, while Iowa starter Nick Jansen kept the Lions quiet for six innings.

"That's a youngster who only completed one inning last year against us," Hindelang said. "And today, we couldn't do anything with him."

Penn State left nine men on base and also accentuated its pitching struggles by committing three errors.

"Our bats didn't come through for us," shortstop Willie Melendez said. "When you get two errors in a game, especially two in one inning, it really hurts. As a team defensively, that brings you down and hurts your concentration."

So instead of being back above .500 and breathing down conference leader Ohio State's neck, the Lions come out of the weekend with a disappointing split, and the wind taken decisively out of their sails.

"In order to host playoffs, which we want to do, and take first in the Big Ten, you have to take at least three out of four from teams like this, teams near the bottom (of the standings)," first baseman Donnie Wright said.

After hosting James Madison this Tuesday, the Lions will leap right back into the conference fray this weekend at Purdue. Hindelang hopes that his team didn't lose too much momentum this weekend.

"We're 7-3, but our streak of playing well is obviously over," he said. "So hopefully against Madison on Tuesday, we can start another one."