For a squad that has yet to play a game at home, the Penn State baseball team found the state of Virginia to be especially hospitable. The Nittany Lions split a season-opening series with Virginia and returned to the Old Dominion State to face Richmond following five straight losses.

The trip turned out to be just what the Lions needed as they pulled out two tight contests against the Spiders at Pitt Field, 6-4 on Saturday and 5-4 yesterday.

"The players deserve all the credit," Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang said. "They were emotionally ready from the first pitch to the last this series. It was lively and energetic."

Senior catcher Matt Harter moved to the cleanup spot for the weekend and the move paid huge dividends for the Lions (7-6).

Harter hit his second and third home runs over the weekend, with the third accounting for the eventual winning runs yesterday. He also doubled in a run in the second game and finished the weekend with an impressive five RBI.

"He was a force to be reckoned with in both games," Hindelang said.

Both Hindelang and Harter cited a change to the catcher's batting stance as the explanation for the offensive explosion.

"[Penn State assistant baseball coach Jon] Ramsey spread my feet out a bit," Harter said. "That must have been it."

The Spiders (11-7) jumped ahead in the third inning yesterday on Penn State senior pitcher Clayton Hamilton when Matt McKenna hit his first-career homerun.

Richmond then loaded the bases with two outs before a disputed call went in favor of the Lions.

Josh Farkes hit a ball that may have been foul off of his foot, but it was ruled fair and Hamilton retired Farkes to end the threat.

Penn State took a 3-1 lead thanks to RBI by Harter, Clint Eury and Arin Gelletly in the fourth. After the Spiders tied the game in the bottom of the inning, Josh Palm (2-0) came in to relieve Hamilton, pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings and recording the win.

The Lions jumped out early in the first game, building a 5-0 lead by the second inning on the strength of home runs by Harter and Scott Gummo.

Sophomore Derrick Barr began the game laying down a bunt for a single, moved to second on a passed ball, and then got to third base on Mike Milliron's groundout.

The baserunning was good, but Gummo slammed his second homerun of the season over the rightfield fence to score Barr without any further leg work. That gave the Lions a 2-0 lead.

Senior pitcher Jim Farrell (2-2) cruised through most of the first five innings, but the Spiders got to him in the sixth, putting three runs on the board and cutting the Lions lead to 5-4. But, as he's done for Penn State for much of the early season, Sean Stidfole came in out of the pen and shut the door.

Stidfole pitched 3 2/3 innings of shutout ball to record his first save of the season. Harter gave him some support in the ninth when he plated sophomore Derrick Barr for his second RBI of the game.

The Lions will head back north to face Bucknell tomorrow as a warmup before taking on national powerhouse Miami down in Coral Gables next weekend.

The Hurricanes were ranked sixth in the country heading into this weekend's games.

"This was pretty big for us," Farrell said. "It really helps out our confidence."