A winless opening weekend was staring the Penn State baseball team down yesterday afternoon against Centenary.

But thanks to junior shortstop/pitcher Scott Gaffney's showing in his first career start and sophomore closer Drew O'Neil's first career save in his first appearance in a Penn State uniform, Penn State got a 7-6 win against the Gents at Shehee Stadium in Shreveport, La.

The victory was the first of the season for Penn State (1-3) after it dropped the previous three games to Kansas State, 5-0 on Friday and 4-1 on Saturday, and Centenary, 7-6 on Saturday.

Solid pitching and a much-improved defensive performance helped the Lions put their first mark in the "W" column, although it didn't come without some late-inning drama.

Behind six innings of work from Gaffney, who allowed three runs on eight hits, Penn State held a 7-2 advantage in the seventh inning. From there, Gaffney and the rest of the Lions relied on relief from the bullpen -- redshirt freshman David Lutz, junior Paul Hawkins and O'Neil -- to lead it to the win.

"I had perfect confidence in Dave, Paul and Drew. They're good pitchers," Gaffney said. "The bullpen was very good this weekend."

Lutz started the seventh inning but quickly surrendered back-to-back hits and was replaced by Hawkins without recording an out.

After walking one of Centenary's most dangerous hitters to load the bases, Hawkins, who had only 10 strikeouts in 2006, fanned the next two batters he faced and nearly survived the jam. But before he could strike out the side, Hawkins allowed a bases-clearing double to bring the Gents within a run.

In the eighth inning, O'Neil, who transferred from Young Harris College in Georgia, took the mound for the first time since joining Penn State during the off-season. The newcomer pitched a perfect frame in the eighth and then navigated a dicey ninth to record his first save in his opportunity as a Lion.

"I was just out there trying to get the job done. We had to hold them; we had only a one-run lead and I was out there to keep them where they were at," O'Neil said. "It was real important for us to get our confidence up and get one win on the weekend."

Penn State also helped its cause by not committing any errors in yesterday's win.

Through their first three games, though, the Lions committed more errors (8) than runs scored (7). Meanwhile, their opponents scored 16 runs but committed just four errors.

"We tried to force things to happen rather than play our game and let things happen," Penn State head coach Robbie Wine said. "It's early season baseball, we expected that. It's our first time outside; it's our first time with new guys against outside competition.

"Nerves, jitters, butterflies, whatever you want to call them, we had them."

However, a calmer Penn State squad changed all of that yesterday, as it went error-free for the first time this year and watched Centenary wrack up four crucial errors.

"[Sunday], we were comfortable and relaxed," Wine said. "We trusted ourselves."