Blue White Illustrated

F or many college students, the thought of unplugging from the Internet for a week – or even for an hour – is nightmare fuel. But when the Penn State baseball team visited Cuba last November, disengagement from the world of social media and instantaneous communication was not only part of the bargain, it was part of the appeal. The Nittany Lions visited the Caribbean nation for a historic four-game exhibition series against several teams from the pres- tigious Cuban National Series. Their trip took place just as the o8en contentious relations between the United States and its neighbor were starting to thaw. But the reopening of diplomatic ties had not undone decades of isolation, and so there were no Wi-Fi networks or cellphone tow- ers to connect to. Which, as it turned out, was not such a bad thing. By going o7 the grid for a week, the Lions were able to focus on themselves. As junior in6elder Jim Haley said, "Having no technology there I think was huge for us. We came together as a team. We had a lot of good experiences together, and it was awesome." The Lions went 1-3 in the Baseball Friend- ship Tournament, but their record was not indicative of how well they played. They gave up only two runs apiece to In- dustriales and defending champion Ciego de Avila, and in their next game they ripped Mayabeque, 9-3, earning the 6rst victory by an American team at any level over a team from the Cuban National Series. Now they are looking to parlay that team-building experience into a strong 2016 season. The Cuba trip helped "speed everything up a bit," coach Rob Cooper said, referring to the development of his young squad, which has 11 freshmen among its 32 players. "I think a lot of times you need some games to let some guys take a deep breath and exhale and kind of get into it. We played Lock Haven early in the fall, and then we played the four games [in Cuba] along with an in- trasquad game, so you got basically six games where you were showing up in your uniforms doing the batting practice, doing the pregame, understanding what goes on. That's six games of experience that the younger guys have, and just another way to expose some things." Penn State is coming o7 a 2015 season in which it went 18-30 overall and 6-16 in the Big Ten, barely escaping last place with a .273 winning percentage. The Nit- tany Lions 6nished with the conference's ninth-best ERA (5.01), but that was with two true freshmen in the starting rotation against a conference that put 6ve teams into the NCAA tournament. Those two starters – Nick Distasio and Taylor Lehman – are back this year, as is senior Nick Hedge, who led the team with 75 innings pitched and 42 strikeouts as a junior. The Lions are eager to get their starting rotation solidi6ed, in part because they've got a closer in senior Jack Anderson who knows how to protect a lead. Anderson is heading into his 6nal season with 69 ap- pearances and 12 saves. That 6rst 6gure ranks fourth in school history, while the AIMING HIGH Baseball team looks to capitalize on head start | VARSITY VIEWS A SHOT IN THE ARM Distasio pitched four in- nings against In- dustriales of the Cuban National Series, allowing only two hits. Photo by Cameron Hart

• Cover