Nov. 8, 2007
University Park, Pa. - Penn State head baseball coach Robbie Wine today announced eight games that the Nittany Lion baseball squad will play on its spring break trip from March 9-16 on its 2008 schedule. The 2008 schedule, which was previously announced last month, will now have the Nittany Lions play just their first 14 games on the road, nine of which will be on neutral fields, prior to opening their home schedule the weekend of March 21-23 against Lehigh at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.
The Nittany Lions will play a combined eight games in eight days over their 2008 spring break trip beginning on Sunday, March 9 and concluding on Sunday, March 16. Seven of those games will be a part of the Papa John's Palm Beach Challenge in West Palm Beach, Fla. and will be held at the Santaluces Sports Complex, a four-field complex that was the former minor league spring training home of the Montreal Expos. The Nittany Lions will also play at Miami (Fla.) for a single game.
The spring break trip will begin with the Nittany Lions taking on Georgetown on Sunday, March 9. On Monday, Penn State will square off with Monmouth. Tuesday, March 11 will be a busy day for the Nittany Lions as they will take on Connecticut in the morning in West Palm Beach before hopping on the bus to make the trip down to Coral Gables for a 7:00 p.m. night game at Miami. The Nittany Lions will get right back onto the diamond the next day as they will take on UConn again on Wednesday.
Following an off day on Thursday, Penn State will take on a couple of in-state foes on Friday and Saturday of the trip as they will face Penn on Friday and then Pittsburgh on Saturday. The meeting with Pitt will be the first of two scheduled meetings with the Panthers as Penn State is also scheduled to travel to Pittsburgh later in the year on April 9 for a midweek game. The Panthers were scheduled to be Penn State's first-ever opponent at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park last year but that game was ultimately cancelled and the teams did not face each other last season. Penn State will then wrap up the trip with a Sunday morning game against another Ivy League foe, Cornell on March 16. Starting times for all of the games in West Palm Beach will be announced at a later date.
With the eight games over spring break announced, Penn State will now play 16 games against NCAA Tournament teams from last year. Those games include games against Troy and Wake Forest in Dothan, Ala. the second weekend of the season, the games against Miami and Monmouth in Florida, as well as four-game Big Ten series against Ohio State, Michigan and Minnesota. The Nittany Lions will play at Ohio State and host Michigan the first two weekends of the Big Ten schedule.
Penn State will play a total of 23 home games in the 2008 season. Season tickets for the 2008 Penn State baseball season can be reserved now by calling the State College Spikes ticket office at (814) 272-1711 or 1-877-SPIKES.