The Penn State Nittany Lions are less than a week away from opening the 2025 campaign in Puerto Rico against Missouri, Stetson, and UConn. There’s a lot of excitement about the upcoming season, from the players and head coach Mike Gambino as the team looks to build off of their 2024 run to the Big Ten Championship.
That optimism was on full display at the Nittany Lion's first media availibility of the year.
Buying into the winning culture
The Nittany Lions have continued to believe that they can achieve far more than just the Big Ten title. “We have a great team to [build off of the 2024 run] this year, y’know, host a regional, and win the Big Ten championship,” stated Bryce Molinaro when talking about how Penn State can run with last year’s successes.
Leadership has been the key for LSU transfer outfielder Paxton Kling. He has found a role as one of the leaders of this 2025 group, describing that he tries to “hold [Penn State] accountable for everything they do, and just try to drive [Penn State] to the goal of winning as much as [they] can and winning it all.”
High praise for Mercado, Molinaro
Outfielder Cohl Mercado played for head coach Mike Gambino in 2023, and he found his way into a talented outfield rotation as the fourth man that year. Gambino praises Cohl by saying that he’s “just the kid that, ‘I’m just gonna figure out a way to beat you’. [He’s] got a little bit of a chip on his shoulder.”
Third baseman Bryce Molinaro had a breakout 2024 campaign, batting a .329 average and hitting 11 home runs. When talking about Bryce Molinaro, Coach Gambino commented, “He was a kid that, as he continued to work, and as he saw himself getting better, then the confidence started to grow.”
Mike Lucarelli dealing with minor hamstring injury
Mike Gambino stated that the outfielder was dealing with a slight hamstring injury, as he did not participate as much in the Thursday practice.