They say baseball is a thinking man's game, but there are some things that are elementary about it.

If you hit home runs, you win.

If you make errors, you lose.

In the first two games of a four-game series with No. 25 Ohio State (30-10, 11-5 Big Ten) in Columbus over the weekend, Penn State (21-23, 10-8 Big Ten) pounded the ball and played solid defense to steal two wins from the third-place Buckeyes.

No team has taken a series at Ohio State since the Buckeyes started playing at Bill Davis Stadium five years ago. In perfect position to do just that, the Nittany Lions reversed fortune, made 11 errors and lost games three and four.

On Friday Donnie Wright hit two home runs and Chris Wright added another as the Lions totaled six extra base hits and won 8-3.

It was head coach Joe Hindelang's 300th victory as Penn State skipper.

"I had no idea," said Hindelang, who has patrolled the third base coaches box in Happy Valley for 11 years. "But it's nice that it came against such a traditionally strong program."

In the first game of Saturday's double header the Lions carried a 5-4 lead into the seventh and final inning. But after three hits and a costly error by the Buckeyes, the Lion's had four insurance runs and Kevin Damiano had room to close out the game.

"We did some really nice things in that seventh inning," Hindelang said. "We were able to get the four runs, and I think that was key."

And that was the top of the hill for the Lions. Perhaps when Donnie Wright stepped on a ball during batting practice and overturned his ankle early Saturday, it was a sign of things to come. Though there has been no official diagnosis on Wright, Hindelang said he expects him to be gone for the year. The senior first baseman is second on the team in batting average (.366), doubles (13), home runs (9), and RBI (34).

If that didn't hurt enough, the nightcap did.

In the first inning, Penn State starter Justin Nash gave up five runs on five hits and the Lions committed two of their season-high six errors. Nash lasted just two innings, allowing 11 hits and eight runs.

But the Lions closed the gap to 9-6 in the sixth inning.

"At that point, it's anybody's game," Hindelang said. "We battled back and gave ourselves a chance to win."

Things came apart for the Lions in the bottom of the inning as they gave up seven runs on four hits and three errors.

"We gave them seven outs that inning," Hindelang said. "They took full advantage."

The Buckeyes nailed 19 hits in the game. Four players had three hits each.

The final game of the series yesterday got out to a much better beginning for the Lions, but ended up with the same result. The Lions committed five errors and blew a 4-0 lead.

Rod Perry, who is back at full-strength after a hamstring injury, led off the game with a home run. The Lions added another run that inning and two more the next to stake a 4-0 lead.

Penn State starter Aaron Tressler cruised until the fifth inning when the Buckeyes got three straight singles. Kevin Damiano replaced him and threw eight pitches, seven of them balls. Clayton Hamilton came in and forced Ohio State's Todd Calcamuggio to ground to short stop, but Willie Melendez threw the ball away and two runs scored. Ohio State scored four runs to tie the game.

In the sixth inning, Brett Garrard drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He scored the game-winner on another error by Melendez.

Netwall grounded out to end the game with the bases loaded in the ninth.

"We're satisfied with the weekend overall," Perry said. "But we know we had ourselves in a position to do more, and we didn't take advantage of it."

Penn State's errors have been coming at crucial junctions, and veteran leaders on the squad are preaching better focus.

"We'd just need to step up and come together in tough situations when the game is on the line," Perry said. "We can't let it unravel."

But it did unravel against Ohio State, and with just two regular season Big Ten weekends left, the Lions are still searching for a way to put it all together.