Baseball to Premiere at Spring Training
NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. - March is the month of baseball. Spring training is scheduled to begin for the Penn State New Kensington baseball team as they travel to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the search of better weather and good competition.
While the months of February and March should mark the beginning of the spring season in western Pennsylvania, there is little optimism about outdoor practice. Spring training down south gives the men a unique opportunity to escape the gym and play without the major weather concerns that plague this part of the country in late winter and early spring.
A young team, New Kensington is looking to revitalize their gameplay after Covid forced a short season last year. Sophomore Braden Tristani (Sarver, Pa. / Knoch) explains the value of the preseason "It gives us a good look to see how we are," he said. "We are still a really young team. We have a lot of recruits coming in. Just kind of assess, play as hard as we can like we had last year, and just go from there."
His teammates expressed similar confidence as they worked through their wheelhouse in the cage. "It's been pretty intense," said Freshman Remy Montelone (Mars, Pa.). "We have been working really hard trying to get back into the groove of things. Especially with this cold weather, you have to work extra hard."
The hard work is already paying off as February comes to an end. The men find that their strength is in their numbers this time around. "Numbers definitely," said Tristani. "We had like 13 to end the year last year now we have 21. We have the depth so we can definitely compete now."
The new depth is being used well thus far as the men look to improve in their pitching rotation on the hill. "Just to be better than we were last year," said Freshman Jake Wilson (Florida)."One of our biggest challenges is probably pitching, just trying to have the right amount of arms to be healthy. Right now we have our starting three and then a few people coming in for relief afterward so we're doing alright but we just need to keep them healthy throughout the season."
The men are looking to the end of the week when they will finally begin competition. "We are playing six or seven games in South Carolina and then we come back with our normal schedule," said Tristani. "We play seven games but we are down there for like 10 days." With a little over a week of practice and gameplay, the men are positive this trip will prove invaluable in the coming weeks.
Another advantage of preseason baseball is playing multiple games at a time, where errors can be evaluated and corrected prior to the next game. By the time they return, the men's team will have had seven games under their belt and a good knowledge of their teammate's playing habits. "Everyone is just really anxious to get out there and start playing baseball again," added Tristani.
The men will play Rochester College in their first of two games on Sunday, March 6, at 9:00 a.m. In the second game of the day, the men play Bay College at 2:30 p.m.
Written by Matt Heavner, PSNK Athletics Communications Intern