North Allegheny graduate guides Penn State to club baseball national championship

The second-seeded Penn State baseball club took a 6-3 lead into the ninth inning against UW Whitewater in the National Club Baseball Association World Series championship game June 1.

Pitcher Tyler Reinert came in firing, dropping three strikes to catcher Dom Campana, and the rest was history.

With the win, the Nittany Lions took home their third national championship.

The Nittany Lions were led by head coach Cam Medic, a North Allegheny graduate.

Medic, a 2023 Penn State graduate, helped the Nittany Lions club team to its first national championship since 2018.

Medic always had a love for baseball. He was a two-year starter for North Allegheny as a first baseman and catcher.

After a devastating football injury, Medic couldn’t play at the collegiate level. He missed the game of baseball and realized once he was admitted to Penn State, he wanted to apply for a coaching role — despite having no prior coaching experience.

“I took it head on and took everything I learned from my coaches at North Allegheny and AAU and applied it to my coaching,” Medic said. “I have always been a student of the game.”

Medic believed it was his responsibility to bring winning club baseball back to Penn State, and he didn’t disappoint.

In two seasons as head coach, Medic racked up a 52-7 record, culminating with the national championship.

Medic became head coach as a junior, after a rough previous year due to covid.

“The club needed to be rebuilt due to covid. We were shut down the whole year and we lost a lot of players due to them graduating,” Medic said.

Medic’s first year was part of a rebuilding process, but this season’s expectations were much greater.

“Going into this past season, we knew what needed to be done. It was a championship win or bust.” Medic said. “Even back in September when there were tryouts, that was the mindset from the coaches and the players. Everyone was all in.”

Medic made it his mission to put in endless hours of studying ways the team could improve and understanding the opponent through any statistics he could find.

Junior first-team all-region pitcher Brady Palmer was thrilled to have Medic as his head coach

“He’s a leader,” Palmer said. “He never considered himself above anyone and strived to be up front with everyone. He battled for us on the field, amping us up in between innings or letting us know we really have to turn it on in certain spots. All we had to do was understand the work he put in and execute it.”

Medic’s time as a Nittany Lion has come to a close, but his coaching journey is far from over.

Medic is currently coaching in the Cal Ripken summer league, where he is gaining more experience with the hopes of transitioning into college coaching in the near future.