UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The offseason is finally coming to an end for Penn State baseball.
The team has its first series of the season this weekend against Monmouth in Cary, North Carolina. Coming off a weekend of inter-squad scrimmages in Maryland the team is ready to take what was a transformative offseason away from the field and put a new attitude to the test.
"The fall has probably been one of the best falls I have ever been a part of because of what the players have done on their own," head coach Rob Cooper said. "The accountability, and the player-driven leadership that they have displayed, this is my 15th year as a head coach or as an assistant coach, they were the most competitive inter squads I have ever been a part of. They felt like actual games at times, and that's something that is really hard to do, but these guys did it. So when I said earlier I'm really excited about starting the season because we've shown we can do it, they've shown they can do it. Now we can face some adversity, get punched in the mouth a little bit and using that. I'm excited about what they've shown and now it's time to put it in practice."
Penn State will have a lot to prove on the diamond this year, but the players have a sense of pride and there is a different edge centered around the team.
"I think we've all been itching to play someone with another name across their chest," sophomore pitcher Bailey Dees said. "We've been playing our guys with another name across our chest for months, and it's been great, it's been competitive. I think we are itching to get out there see what we've got against someone without Penn State across their chest."
Whether the opponent is wearing the blue and white of the Nittany Lions or not, Penn State has dug deeper this offseason into why they struggled in one-run games last season, dropping 13 of the 18 one-run contests.
Internally, the consensus has come down to controllables. Cooper aims for the team to focus on themselves and not worry who is across the diamond.
"We are playing Monmouth this weekend, we're playing them this Friday," Cooper said. "After that, we are going to play more teams and whether they are ranked, not ranked or went to the super regional or a national power. It doesn't matter, the only constant is us. One of the things that we've had to get better at and talked a lot about is it's not so much about what another team does. A lot of those one-run games and just games in general, I know we have good enough players to win and be competitive and a force in the Big Ten and Nationally. It's a matter then of taking that ability and mashing it with the belief."
The players have started the process of growing mentally, by becoming closer together. They boast of hanging out all the time off the field and developing bonds and a trust that has been missing in the past.
They believe in each other and feel they have what it takes no matter the circumstances. It is the Penn State players, not the other teams who will decide this seasons fate.
"Last year for us doesn't carry over to this year," Dees said. "Last year for Monmouth doesn't carry over to this year. It doesn't matter what team we're playing. I think we are going to go out there and play hard and do the best we can to come out with a win."
Dees will get the start Saturday for the Nittany Lions in the middle of Dante Biasi, who was a weekend starter a year ago, and Eric Mock a red-shirt junior who started four games a year ago but also had late relief experience with three saves.
Following the inter-squad scrimmages last weekend in Maryland, the team is ready to prove themselves on the field in North Carolina. As senior catcher Shea Sbranti was asked about the teams' excitement level for actual regular season games, a confident smile and fiery eyes crept across his face.
"We're ready to go," Sbranti said. "It's been a long fall; it's been a long spring. The winter was great; pitchers are ready, hitters are ready. I think we're ready to go to North Carolina and work."
