Penn State's Jared Hopewell stepped onto the mound in the third inning to relieve Alan Stidfole yesterday at Depew field in Lewisburg, home of Bucknell, and this is what confronted him: No outs, bases full, the NittanyLions already down 3-2 and the game teetering on the brink. No problem.

Hopewell came in, threw two pitches, and the inning was over. Two pitches, two groundballs, one turned into a double play, three outs, one run scored and one disaster averted.

From there, the rest was cake.

Behind a strong six innings from Hopewell and a clutch, bases loaded double by pinch-hitter Clint Eury in the top of the ninth, the Lions (8-6) beat Bucknell (9-6) 6-4 and showed more than a little character and fortitude in the process.

"It was a tough situation," Hopewell said of his entry into the game. "I just tried to make the best of it. A double play and another ground ball is pretty much the best you can hope for."

After getting out of that third inning jam, Hopewell settled in for the next five innings and shut down the previously potent Bison offense. In the process, he kept Penn State, which was struggling mightily at the plate, within striking distance.

"Once I got out of the third, I put in some good innings and things just started to roll," Hopewell said.

But things were rolling for the Bucknell pitching staff as well. All told, Bucknell used six pitchers, none going more than two innings, and kept the Lions lineup off balance. When the Lions started to rally, got men in scoring position, a clutch hit couldn't be found.

Only Hopewell and two second inning RBI from outfielder Matt Lewis were keeping Penn State in the game.

"They were changing pitchers every two innings or so, and it's tough for a hitter to face a new guy every at bat," Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang said. "But I have to give Bucknell credit, they're a fine team."

But six straight innings of offensive ineptitude were undone in one glorious half of an inning. Brett Showalter and Matt Cavagnero reached base to lead off the top of the ninth and Mike Milliron singled to center field to bring Penn State to within in one, 4-3. After Scott Gummo was hit by a pitch and Matt Harter reached on a fielder's choice, up stepped Eury who promptly turned a 1-1 fastball into a 5-4 Penn State lead.

"I was just thinking not to try to do too much," Eury said. "It's natural to tense up in a situation like that so I was just trying to put the ball in play and get the tying run in."

From there, Penn State tacked on another run and handed the ball over to Aaron Tressler. Game over.

"Right before I was going to pinch hit, I went down to the bullpen just to look at some pitches," Eury said. "Tressler was warming up and his pitches had some zip. Once we got the lead, I knew we wouldn't give it up."