In the end, they're nothing more than numbers to Joe Hindelang.

The Penn State baseball coach entered this weekend's four-game set with Minnesota with 598 career wins and a six-game losing streak to the Golden Gophers.

And after the Gophers extended the streak to eight with a 7-2 win on Friday and a 6-3 decision in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, things weren't looking too positive for the Nittany Lions.

But all of that changed when freshman Matt Lewis broke a 3-3 tie when he drove a 1-2 pitch over the left field fence in the top of the ninth yesterday to give the Lions a 4-3 victory. Coupled with an 8-4 win in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, the win capped an improbable comeback that earned a 2-2 series split and gave Hindelang his 600th career victory. In his 27th season as a coach, Hindelang has earned 379 wins in 13 years with the Lions, while earning the rest coaching at Lafayette and the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. He now stands just one victory behind Joe Bedenk for Penn State baseball's all-time wins record.

"It's a number as is one's age," Hindelang said. "Anything else you say about it is just a story. They're not just my numbers -- they belong to the assistant coaches who have been with me and all of the players."

So it's fitting that on this milestone day that Hindelang would much rather talk about his players than himself. And the fact that the Lions (18-14, 7-5 Big Ten) took two wins from a Gophers squad that went 15-1 in Big Ten home games last year was not lost in the shuffle.

"It means volumes," Hindelang said. "Minnesota is an outstanding team, and this year is no exception. They and Ohio State have been the standards in the Big Ten since we've been it, and to split after losing the first two games speaks so much of our team and its makeup."

The split meant that the Gophers (18-14, 7-5) would not win a Big Ten home series for the first time since May 2002. They also were the Lions' first wins over Minnesota since April 14, 2002 and their first wins in Minneapolis since May 19, 2000 in the Big Ten Championships.

Those points were not lost on the Penn State players.

"It's unbelievable," junior Clint Eury said. "It's hard playing against Minnesota there. You could tell after the game that they were ticked -- they're expected to win."

Eury had an up-and-down weekend pitching out of the bullpen, but got his fourth save of the season yesterday to make Lewis' home run stand up in the ninth. In the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, Eury surrendered a walk and a three-run homer in the seventh that cut the Lions' lead to 6-4.

Though the Lions held on for the win, the outing discouraged Eury, who wasn't thinking he would pitch again the next day.

"I really didn't expect it," Eury said. "But I told coach my arm felt pretty good, so I went out there. I got the first guy out, but then I had a walk and had flashbacks to the day before."

Eury held on, however, and Hindelang couldn't have been more pleased.

"Clint Eury really struggled big time [on Saturday]," Hindelang said. "And for him to have a total contrast in his appearance [yesterday] was just refreshing. It says so much that he wanted the ball in that situation."

Lewis' home run continued a recent hot streak for him at the plate and in the field and has locked him into the lineup, Hindelang said.