Penn State on Friday asked a Centre County judge to order temporary operating guidelines for the shared use of Medlar Field at Lubrano Park while the university’s lawsuit against the State College Spikes over the minor league baseball team’s lease of the facility proceeds.
The petition also alleges that the Spikes organization has failed to properly care for the property and that the university has been helping keep the club financially afloat.
Penn State, which owns the ballpark on Porter Road and has rented it to the Spikes through a series of agreements since 2006, sued to evict the Spikes in early March after the university said the team failed to provide notice it would exercise a 10-year lease option when the previous agreement expired in September. A magisterial district in February granted the university possession of the property, but the Spikes appealed in Centre County Court of Common Pleas, leading to the lawsuit.
A university attorney wrote in the new filing that “Spikes Baseball has shown an apparent and general lack of oversight and care” of the facility before and after the lease expiration. They alleged that the club failed to clean bathrooms and dugouts, allowed dirt and bird waste buildup, and failed to repair cracks, leaks, an HVAC system in suites and a fire suppression system, among other issues.
Penn State also claims it has “has been forced to essentially subsidize the existence of Spikes Baseball at significant and unfair cost.” The university says it has previously forgiven “significant” amounts of unpaid rent and more recently discovered it has been overbilled by the Spikes for certain costs and fees as part of the shared use agreement.
“The university was forced to make certain financial concessions to support Spikes Baseball’s ability to continue operating its organization in the Centre County region,” Penn State attorney Alexander Bilus wrote. “Indeed, at times the University had to assume some of the financial obligations of Spikes Baseball to help keep Spikes Baseball afloat.”
In a statement sent to media on Friday night, the Spikes said they “have operated the ballpark in exemplary fashion, as legions of people who have attended Spikes games and other events over the years already know.”
“To portray the Spikes in the false light the university has concocted in an ever escalating attempt to force the Spikes out of business is reckless and should be beneath the university,” the team wrote. “The Spikes look forward to presenting the truth in court at the appropriate time.”
The lease had no holdover clause for operations after it expired and the university has deemed the club a “tenant at sufferance,” essentially meaning it remains on the property against Penn State’s wishes because the eviction was stayed by the team’s appeal.
Penn State offered the Spikes an operating agreement, according to the filing, one the university says simplified what had been a complicated distribution of responsibilities under the lease and imposes fewer obligations on the club. It would also provide that the university and the Spikes are responsible for their own events.
The Spikes did not confirm agreement with the terms, and Penn State is now asking the court to impose the operating agreement.
The university’s baseball team requires access to the property for home games, practices and other activities, and Bilus cited other planned Penn State events upcoming at the ballpark, such as receptions for Ag Progress Days and World Campus summer graduation, and the president’s tailgates during football season.
“Court-imposed parameters are necessary to avoid operational conflicts and protect Penn State’s ability to utilize its own facilities during the pendency of the appeal,” Bilus wrote.
The Spikes’ MLB Draft League 2026 schedule, meanwhile, runs from June 5 to Sept. 1, with 41 home games at Medlar Field.
Judge Brian Marshall has scheduled a conference for April 8.
The Spikes original lease began in 2005 and included two 10-year renewal options that required 180 days notice of intent to re-up. In a previous filing, Penn State attorneys wrote that the Spikes missed the deadline in 2015 and the university ultimately accepted the renewal, but that did not exempt the club from providing timely notice for the second renewal in 2025.
Notice for the second renewal option was due in April 2025, and Penn State says that when it did not receive it, the university notified the Spikes in August that the agreement would end on Sept. 30.
“Penn State provided a proposed terms sheet to Spikes Baseball for a new agreement between the parties, but Spikes Baseball rebuked the university’s efforts and flatly refused even to extend the courtesy of a reply to Penn State’s proposal to keep Spikes Baseball at Medlar Field pursuant to a new agreement,” Bilus wrote.
A university spokesperson said when the complaint was filed that “Penn State continues to be willing to work with the Spikes organization to explore a new facility usage agreement to keep the Spikes in State College.”
The Spikes, meanwhile, have contended that they did provide timely notice and alleged that Penn State “has been engaged in a calculated effort to drive the State College Spikes out of business.” adding that the team was “the reason Medlar Field at Lubrano Park was built” with funding from the commonwealth and the team.”
Penn State says the Spikes also owe $1.7 million in termination rent, as well as at least three months of unpaid rent installments totaling $29,238 through the end of the agreement and additional rent since the lease expired.
According to the new filing, the stay of eviction required the Spikes to put three months rent in escrow, but the club only deposited one month’s worth, totaling $9,746.11.
Penn State petitioned for the stay to be lifted on March 10 because the escrow requirement was not meant, but the request was denied by the Centre County prothonotary and clerk of courts.
