Rediscovering Happy Valley: Penn State Baseball

The view from a press box, sometimes, isn’t all that great. You’re squeezed in, looking out at an unkempt field with run-down buildings completing the landscape.

In other words, the exact opposite of what I see when I’m sitting in the press box at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, where Mount Nittany encompasses the sightline. For something that I see nearly every day, Mount Nittany still inspires awe every time I’m at Medlar Field.

When I was home last year on summer vacation, and especially after I moved back at the beginning of August, I spent plenty of time at Medlar.

On more than one occasion, as we walked out of the ballpark after a State College Spikes game, my dad remarked how fortunate we are to have so many first-rate sports facilities nearby. Maybe he was referring to our family as “we,” but he just as easily could have been referencing the entire town of State College.

After playing road games for the first month of the season, Penn State made the most of its first home stretch last week, winning two games apiece from New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) and Bucknell.

There are plenty of notable games on the schedule for later this season at Medlar. Penn State hosts Big Ten opponents Northwestern, Illinois, Michigan State and Indiana — the Hoosiers qualified for the College World Series last year. The Nittany Lions also welcome West Virginia for one game in early April.

I’m familiar with Indiana, which recently began playing in a new stadium. Because I love watching baseball, and corn fields outnumbered social options in the small town in Indiana where I was living, I routinely made the 70-mile trip to Bloomington last year to watch the team play. I even saw one game against Penn State.

Now, fortunately, I have a much shorter drive if I want to watch some quality college baseball. And Medlar Field at Lubrano Park isn’t just any ballpark.

Last year, Steve Jones described Medlar as a “mini-palace” during a Q&A about the Spikes, and he was exactly right. In a lot of ways, Medlar reminds me of Victory Field, the Indianapolis field that’s home to the Pittsburgh Pirates’ AAA-affiliate: Each boast spacious seating, a picturesque view beyond the outfield and a helpful staff willing to do anything necessary to provide a pleasant experience.

So for a lot of reasons, it’s good to have baseball back.

Last week marked not only Penn State’s home opener, but also the first home contest for first-year coach Rob Cooper.

I met Cooper a few weeks ago at the HUB-Robeson Center, where students were purchasing season tickets. Cooper’s fairly active on Twitter, regularly interacting with students, and he was just as gregarious in-person.

He talked about Cooper’s Town, the student section with a cool name, and said he’d be happy to help me any way he could this season. That isn’t unusual for a coach to say, but Cooper continually shows that he’s ecstatic to have landed in Happy Valley.

And for a guy who’s coached across the country and even the world — Cooper coached in an 18U tournament in Taiwan last year — Medlar still represents a unique experience.

Sitting in the front row on the third base side and with their feet propped up on Bucknell’s dugout, Penn State students were particularly loud Saturday. And the Penn State women’s lacrosse team also was in attendance to show its support, which Cooper noticed.

The majority of the schedule waits ahead for Penn State, and with better weather implying more fans will show up at the ballpark, it should be a fun season — especially with students ensuring Cooper’s Town will be well populated.

“I thought the students were awesome, I thought that they were really, really good,” Cooper said after Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of Bucknell. “I think it can be a great environment here and a fun atmosphere, and especially when the students take over like they do. If they take ownership of it, which they are, it’s going to be a neat deal.”