May 3, 2026
Medlar Field at Lubrano Park (Capacity: 5,406)
State College, PA
Penn State Nittany Lions vs Minnesota Golden Gophers
Final Score: 4 – 5
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State College, Pennsylvania is indeed home to a state college. The appropriately named borough, is in the middle of PA and home to around 40,000. It is a true college town in every sense of the word as the number of undergraduates on Penn State University’s campus is more than the population. This huge state school is also one of the higher ranked ones in academics and features a campus impressive in its size. For athletics, the Nittany Lions are often at the top of multiple sports. Baseball is certainly not one of them. After an early period of success where PSU made five College World Series appearances between the 1950s and 1970s, they have been stuck in an extended drought. Since 1977, Penn State has made just 1 NCAA Tournament (2000). Their last conference winning record was 2012 (though they did make a few recent runs in the weird format of the Big Ten Tournament). Despite the quality on the field, Penn State has one of the nicest facilities in the Northeast. The on-campus Medlar Field at Lubrano Park is like a minor-league stadium because it played as one too. When it opened in 2006, it was rented out as the summer home to the State College Spikes, a single A team in the NY-Penn League. Since the Great MiLB Purge of 2020, the Spikes were downgraded to the MLB Draft League and their future status is in question thanks to a lease dispute. Penn State never fails to find ways to make them hate-able.
Prestige Ranking: 3 out of 5
Location
The ballpark is located on the northern edge of campus amongst other athletic facilities including Beaver Stadium and the Bryce Jordan Center. This is a mile or two outside of downtown, where there are several local eateries, bars and shops. Outside of that, there is little to entice visitors as this is a college town in the middle of nowhere. The lone option to consider is checking out the Penn State All-Sports Museum inside the football stadium. Operating hours worked out nicely for the Saturday afternoon game that I went to.
Location Ranking: 4.5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Most folks use I-80 to I-99 and then it’s pretty easy to reach the athletic side of campus via Exit 74 and Park Ave. It’s just a left turn onto Porter Road for the ballpark and the huge nearby parking lots. There’s no traffic trouble at all for baseball. The only minor knock is just how far out and secluded this part of the state is. It’s more problematic if coming from the south as the mountainous terrain means that a more roundabout way (I-99 or US-322) is needed.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 7.5 out of 8
Exterior
It’s a muted approach to the stadium as trees cover a good part of the building and for the areas that you do see, it’s on the short side. Medlar Field features an odd combination of brick and silver metallic panels lining the tops of each stadium piece. Entry is disjointed with no welcoming introduction and an island ticket area looking like a bus terminal before you get to the main gates.
Exterior Ranking: 4 out of 10
Concourse
Past the entry, here’s where I do like some shade trees as an outdoor plaza lends to a wide opening into the concourse behind home plate. There’s a wow factor involved as the expansive field view ahead includes the impressive Mount Nittany looming beyond the outfield. As for the concourse, it is extra wide and spacious, with an overhang from the suite-level covering 2/3rds of it. Picnic tables are strategically placed in a spot that doesn’t disrupt traffic and invites those to sit and eat. This continues beyond the seating bowl, where an open area in the right-field corner can be a hangout spot. There are definite elements to minor league baseball that Penn State doesn’t open for their college games, like a kids zone in a corner and several others concession stands. Plus, the concourse walls feature a canary yellow color, which is more in line with the Spikes.
Concourse Ranking: 4 out of 5
Food
For Penn State games, there is only one concession stand open and the menu is limited. You’ll see Chicken Tenders, Fries and Burgers to go along with various snacks. The most popular item will be foil-wrapped Hot Dogs, where students come out with handfuls of them on Dollar Dog Night. This promotion is a big deal (see “Other Stuff” section) and actually has helped increase the popularity of the program. I was at the game for a promo and despite the bland look, the Dog was juicy and decent. Penn State does sell beer and wine at baseball games. To go with a fair amount of national brands, there is New Trail’s Broken Heels from nearby Williamsport.
Food Ranking: 3.5 out of 8
Interior
The design is fairly standard for the era as you’ll see a single level of seating that extends around the diamond, into shallow outfield on both sides. There are a good amount of rows as 15-18 of them lead to a capacity over 5,000. There is so much leg room that you don’t even have to get up if someone is walking down to get out or come in. That perk is countered by a very shallow seating bowl rise, thus a sub-optimal sightline to the field. The blue chairs themselves are comfortable. Perched above a short porch in right field are two sections of bleacher seats for anyone looking to have a different perspective (and a visual of Beaver Stadium towering beyond the stadium). A rung of suites is in the traditional overhead spot, along with the press box. Again, the main thing that makes Medlar Field stand out from other ballparks is that aforementioned view. Mount Nittany is directly past centerfield and other hills down the line make for a serene setting. That adds a couple points to the ranking.
Interior Ranking: 8.5 out of 14
Scoreboard
The video board in left field is really good as the clarity is perfect and the in-game set-up is generally decent. There’s enough room where they could put today’s game stats on too, instead of just what they are for the season. The only replay was for a home run. While there’s no issue seeing the board from the seating bowl, if you are seated down the 3rd base side, you have to turn your head a good deal to see it. That’s an issue because there is not even a small display in right field for game information.
Scoreboard Ranking: 3 out of 4
Displays
The All-Sports Museum in the southwest corner of the football stadium (just a short walk from the ballpark) does have a section on the baseball program, since ya know, it’s in the title. The section is informative. Even though it looks snazzy, it’s a similar template for each sport and the mysterious gap in football history around 2011 isn’t surprising. Back inside the ballpark, Penn State honors are lacking and the mustard-yellow walls don’t help with the character. The only thing is a Centre County Sports Hall of Fame bulletin board. I did enjoy the hiking-like info board on Mount Nittany. As for the State College Spikes, there’s a corner panel “Road to the Show” display before the main entrance.
Displays Ranking: 2 out of 6
Cost
It’s strange that the parking is more than the ticket cost. Also, with generally low attendance and all that parking lot space, do you really have to make the fans go through the hassle of using a Paystation or going to ParkWhiz? Ahead of time, it’s $5.40 while on the day of the game, it’s $10. Regardless, I shouldn’t be complaining because tickets are free. Despite the big name and conference, that’s not uncommon for baseball in the Northeast as others like Rutgers and Pitt also feature no ticket cost. For concessions, they are pricey for this type of a event as a Cheeseburger is $9.75, a beer is $12 – $14 and a 24oz soda is $6. Take advantage of those Dollar Dog days.
Cost Ranking: 7 out of 8
Fan Support
Penn State’s baseball attendance isn’t bad, especially given annual win-loss records. Entering this game, they averaged 1,136 for the season and that probably is accurate since there is no “tickets sold” count given free entry (plus, I saw a guy at the gates with a clicker counter as people walked in). That number is 5th in the Big Ten and 66th Nationally. Slight annual increases have taken place and you can actually attribute a decent part of that to multiple Dollar Dog Nights. With this game that I attended, I expected a really small crowd given temperatures in the upper 40s and a start time that got moved up by 2 hours. It started that way with maybe 50 on hand, but by the middle innings, the crowd increased to 500 and then more by the end. There were also a fair amount of students that came out, more than I saw at Virginia or Southern Miss where the baseball programs are on a higher level.
Fan Support Ranking: 4 out of 8
Atmosphere
The college kids play a role in that a few rows of them park right by the visitors dugout as they chirp with the other team. Some of it is clever and funny, while others in the crowd were just annoying and dumb. It is the most involved I’ve seen students in general. Only Auburn heckled more in my limited experience of 9 college ballparks. Here, it is very audible since attendance is on the low side. Credit to a junior for recently developing Section 814 and hopefully the student section gains traction and becomes a fixture after he graduates. The rest of the crowd is laid back, yet attentive and they cheer when it’s warranted. Zombie Nation’s Kernkraft 400 follows home runs (they should do it for any run), along with a soft “We. Are. Penn. State.” from the crowd. A lion roar is also a common sound effect heard over the loud speaker.
Atmosphere Ranking: 7.5 out of 14
Other Stuff
Dollar Dog Night sure is quite a hit here at Penn State and it actually is driving more team popularity. An average of 5,274 wieners are consumed each time the school runs the promo, which in and of itself is remarkable that they have that many to cook on hand. In fact, the Bucknell game this year featured 9,319 hot dogs and an attendance of 4,082…..Some naming stuff: Penn State is officially in University Park, which is essentially a zip code / mailing address for the school. The “Nittany” portion of the Lions nickname originates from nearby Mount Nittany. Meanwhile, the entire surrounding area has had the longtime moniker “Happy Valley”. And finally, the ballpark name: Anthony Lubrano helped to contribute to some of the stadium funding, while Chuck Medlar was both a long time trainer and baseball coach…..The wall in right field is 18.55 feet high, a nod to the year that Penn State was founded.
Game
This one looked to be over before it barely started as the Gophers batted around the lineup in the 1st inning. They only plated three as they left the bases loaded with one out. Starter Colin Fitzgerald settled down after that and kept the Lions alive by only giving up one more run in the next few innings. Penn State kept cutting at the lead and a Bryce Molinaro home run made it 5-4 in the 7th inning. That was all the home side could muster as they fell short in Game 1 of the doubleheader to fall to 12-30 on the season.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
