Spring is nearly upon us and with that brings Penn State baseball. Through the first 17 games of the 2024 season, Mike Gambino has the Nittany Lions sitting at an 11-6 record with five series won so far this season.

They’ve picked up multiple huge wins over Davidson and Stanford and recently grabbed two wins over UMass Lowell during their home-opening series. Nearly 4,000 total fans attended the series over the weekend with the home opener producing 1,680 fans.

It was a fantastic first series for Gambino and company who put up 33 runs over the three games with 21 coming in Sunday’s win. While it may be early in the season and Gambino’s run as head coach, the tide is potentially turning for the Nittany Lions baseball program.

Over the last 25 years, Penn State baseball has struggled to find success. Since 2002, the Nittany Lions have suffered 14 losing seasons and have only made the Big Ten Tournament seven times. They also went through a stretch where they didn’t make the tournament for 10 years.

The last season in which it had a team capable of making a run at an NCAA Championship was in 2000 when the team went 45-19 and made it to that year’s Super Regionals. While Regionals may be a long shot for this season, Gambino emphasized the team and program have the potential to be special moving forward.

“We want to host regionals. Here. We want to talk about Omaha,” Gambino said. “And when we talk about Omaha in this program, no disrespect to Big Ten, we want to talk about it being the College World Series. We want the Big Ten Tournament and championship to be a step along the way.”

Rebuilds take time and the program has a long road ahead before it turns itself into a respectable name in college baseball. However, folks are starting to get behind the team, and the university is responding well to the support.

It started with small things like changing the color of the outfield wall and making the scoreboard at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park bigger. It has also begun improvements at facilities like renovating the clubhouse and building a new workout area.

Gambino wants to create a great atmosphere in which fans can enjoy. Gambino feels the program can compete with some of the major atmospheres Penn State has to offer.

“Hockey is second to none. Football is second to none. Basketball when it’s going is awesome. I think we could have awesome college baseball,” Gambino said. “I think the people are starting to see it. They are impacting us, they’re impacting the program, they’re impacting the game, and they’re impacting the recruiting.”

Fans are making a difference, and the team is going to take advantage of it. While the pitching staff has its flaws at times, the offense has produced on multiple occasions. Gambino described them as a team people will love and want to root for.

“I do believe in the boys. This group is a group that you can get behind,” Gambino said. “I mean, that’s who we’re gonna be. We’re just not going to stop. I think it can be a group that this town and these students amp up.”