Robbie Wine was flipping a baseball in his hands, sometimes bouncing it off a hallway wall, as he walked toward the locker room.

The ball was supposedly his son Cory's three-run home run ball from the third inning yesterday, when he took a Northwestern pitcher over the short porch in right field. It was given to Robbie from a fan "for Cory's mom," Wine said.

But the Penn State baseball head coach's ball flipping was more than just added cheerfulness from a comeback, 6-4 win in series finale against the Wildcats -- or the Nittany Lions' (16-19, 9-5 Big Ten) first conference series sweep since 2004.

It was because, finally, like the ball flipping, winning had become a habit, as he has started doing it at about the same time that the team has gotten hot.

"You know what it is?" said Wine, whose team now sits in third place in the Big Ten. "One day, someone gave me a ball, and I started flipping it around in the dugout, and we've been winning."

Tied 4-4 in the eighth inning, outfielder Rick Marlin, who also singled in the winning run in the ninth inning of Friday's 7-6 win, stepped to the plate. While it was unconventional, Marlin hit a pop fly to left field, which met the sun in the sky.

Northwestern outfielder Aaron Newsome, regardless of the shaded eye gear, lost the ball in mid flight. Shortly after hitting the ground, Penn State's Mike Deese and Joe Blackburn scored the two go-ahead runs versus the last-place Wildcats (9-25, 3-13 Big Ten).

"Coming from behind, the first time you do it, you know what it feels like, you know what it takes," Wine said. "It was definitely a team effort for four games. And now, we know what it feels like and what it takes."

For Wine and Co., it is all starting to come together. After starting the season 4-13 during a non-conference schedule against ranked opponents like No. 2 North Carolina and previously ranked Wichita State, Penn State is now three games under .500.

And during Saturday's doubleheader, a Penn State baseball record of 3,946 attendees packed Medlar Field at Lubrano Park -- including a few professional scouts. Starting pitchers Craig Clark, Ryan Stobart, Scott Gaffney and closer Drew O'Neil had a few jotting notes onto their pads, then putting up their radar guns for a velocity check.

Clark impressed with a complete-game shutout during seven inning of work in Saturday's first game, winning 1-0, while Gaffney could only go three innings yesterday after starting the other three games at shortstop.

When scouts are around, it can also be a plus for hitters, Wine said, if they have a big game. His son had his first triple since the seventh game of last season on another well-hit ball to the outfield.

Cory Wine wasn't even anxious to get his hands on the home run ball after the game, saying, "It's just another home run." Instead, it was the feeling of the Lions' first sweep of a home series since 2001 that had him feeling good.

"We are starting to get on a roll," he said. "We are going to be tough down the stretch."