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Lyco baseball team to play at Bowman Field after a 52-year absence

By Jon Gerardi 7 min read

The last time Lycoming's baseball team walked off a field prior to this spring semester, it fell on the road to Elizabethtown, 4-3. That was on May 5, 1971.

Sadly, that became the last time Lycoming had a baseball team. The Warriors went 2-8 that season, but year after year passed, and decade after decade, and baseball wasn't a program.

Until this year that is.

After a 52-year absence, the Warriors once again have a baseball program. And today, for the first time since 1971, Lycoming will play a home baseball game in Williamsport. The Warriors will face DeSales at Bowman Field for a noon game this afternoon.

"It's special because of all the other people who have been a part of this and want to see this program become successful and thrive," Lycoming coach Rick Oliveri said. "From alums to administration to Mike Clark (Lycoming athletic director) and Joe Guistina (Lycoming associate athletic director/sports information director) and everybody from leadership down, President (Dr. Kent) Trachte and everyone in the executive cabinet."

When Oliveri was offered the job, he immediately jumped at the chance to lead the inaugural baseball program's rebirth after being gone for five decades. It was a unique challenge he embraced since Day 1.

"That was one of the really attractive parts of the job was it was brand new. Usually when people take over a program, you have to change a culture that was bad or not ideal or not theirs," Oliveri said. "Starting from scratch allows us to make it whatever we want. I was intentional about the guys that we recruited, certain types of characters we were looking for an attributes, both on and off the field.

"It's allowed us to set our standard of how we've gone about things. I do believe that's going to get us success quicker and help us have sustained success down the line."

Getting baseball back at Lycoming has been a work in process for the last few years. Lycoming began discussing it during the 2018-19 academic year with a preliminary report from an athletics working group that mentioned the positive impact of adding a sport could have on Lycoming's enrollment numbers.

In 2019, those recommendations were approved by the college's board of trustees and were approved by the board of trustees on Dec. 17, 2020 to re-establish the field hockey and baseball programs in 2022-23.

Lycoming hired Allyson Kenyon as its field hockey coach in April 2021 and two months later, brought in Oliveri to lead the baseball team.

"They both had to recruit student-athletes and procure all the equipment that would be needed for their respective sports during 2021-22 and handle all the other logistics of reestablishing programs that have been gone from the college for at least a generation during that year, helping set up successful launches of each program in 2022-23," Guistina said of the process of bringing the sports back.

Oliver knew the recruiting process would be a bit different. Recruiting standout prospects would be unique in that there was no past history to build off of. They weren't a reigning league champion or were coming off a 15- or 20-win season. Rather, they were just starting, but Oliveri saw positives in that.

"Most of the kids I've talked to in the recruiting process were really excited about the opportunity. No 1, because of Williamsport being such a great baseball town and being recognized nationally for baseball, but the chance for them to also make their own mark and create a legacy for themselves where we don't have a history to point to," Oliver said. "We also have an opportunity that's something that a lot of places may not have where if you're returning a bunch of starters, there may not be an opportunity right away for freshmen. A lot of our guys saw this as an opportunity where they may have a chance to play right away."

The Warriors have 27 freshmen on their inaugural roster, giving them all a chance to earn a starting spot as there are no returning starters to vie for playing time against.

"A lot of times at the junior college I played at, they already have spots promised to people or they have people who have been there years prior," Lycoming's Braden Campbell said. "So I knew it was a great opportunity and fresh start where anyone can be a starter."

"We're all freshmen, we're all going to be back, so it's almost a competition every year for your position," Lycoming's Nick Reeder, a Montoursville graduate, said. "I kind of like that because it's a drive to get you to want to keep pushing yourself throughout the years."

The Warriors have already begun their season, but now the conference schedule gets into full swing. Lycoming started the year 1-4 and went 1-3 during a three-game stand in Greensboro, N.C. The Warriors beat Greensboro in the third game on Feb. 19, 16-3, which saw Lycoming's offense explode for 19 hits and at least one run in each inning.

Lycoming's having success early as a team in terms of gelling together and being cohesive as a unit.

"Just how close-knit we are. We all get along and we all play into each other's strengths. It took us a game to get the feel of college baseball because we have 27 freshmen, but like just how close we are, I feel like that helps us out," Reeder said.

Oliveri saw his team bonding and being close from the get to go over the fall during its practice season. They also had 15 players work the Little League Series and that helped them also get to know each other.

"We started practicing right away, guys got to be together and be on the field together. So they've been able to gel because there's a lot of commonality in it with new faces," Oliveri said. "(There are) 27, 29 guys who are new to college baseball, so they have some common ground to lean on with each other, and I think that brought them together closer as well."

This season Lycoming will be playing all its home games at Bowman Field. The program will end up having a turf field located at Brandon Park in the not-so-distant future, but for now, Bowman Field is where Lycoming will call home. At least for a year.

"Our players are really excited for progress of Brandon Park project to be able to have a field that is somewhat our own and have one that is turf. I know when it's done, we're going to have one of the best facilities in the state, which is really exciting for recruiting and for the current guys," Oliveri said.

Reeder is a former Montoursville standout, and knows the history at Bowman Field. He played there in previous years at the annual Backyard Brawl contests and district championship games. He's looking forward to being able to play on the field yet again, this time in college.

"It's great. I love playing there in the high school season. We'd have district championships there," Reeder said. "The feeling of playing there doesn't go away, it's great playing there every single time."

Reeder isn't the only Lycoming player who's looking forward to playing at Bowman Field, either. Former Loyalsock standout Matt Worth always wanted to play in the Major Leagues as a kid. And to get to play now on the same field Major Leaguers play on each August is something special for him.

"It's pretty special to get to play on a field that MLB players play on. It's kind of like the inner child in me that always wanted to be an MLB player and now that I get to play on a field that MLB players play on is pretty special," Worth noted.

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