When people think of summertime, of cookouts, of Cosmo the ice cream man, of children playing touch football in the street, they draw a mental image of a town much like Levittown, population a little more than 17,000.

It's the town that inspired the comic strip "The Longhorns."

It's the town where Billy Joel hung out at the Village Green.

It's the town where for most of their childhood, Pat Rock patrolled centerfield, and Tony Balcan called the signals behind home plate for the likes of Dennis Schneidler. It's the town where Shawn Fagan did pretty much everything a young boy could possibly do with only a bat, a ball, a glove and a baseball diamond just off of Redwing Lane to work with.

And when the people of the town weren't grilling hot dogs in their backyards or talking until the sun set, they were watching intently as Rock, Balcan, Schneidler and Fagan grew up as people, as well as baseball players.

Today, the quartet is still playing baseball, though not in front of the same large audiences they saw when they were teammates with Division Avenue High School in Levittown. Fagan now stars at the hot corner for the Penn State baseball team. And much like he did for the fans in his hometown, when Fagan takes the pitcher's mound, he still dazzles the Happy Valley faithful with his eye-popping fastball.

This weekend, when Penn State opens its home schedule with a three-game series against C.W. Post Saturday, the games will have a definite Levittown flavor, as Rock, Balcan and Schneidler all play for the Pioneers.

"It's going to be weird," Fagan said. "It's the first time in awhile I played against them. It's going to be weird to step into the box."

Levittown's watch of its native sons began nine years ago, when Rock, Balcan and Fagan played in the Levittown West Little League.

Fagan was always considered the best player in the league by his peers, consistently hitting houses built a seemingly safe 250 feet from home plate. Not only did Fagan hit home runs off the houses, he hit them off the roofs.

His right arm also attained legendary status. As his fellow pitcher Schneidler put it, "(Fagan) throws hard. Really hard."

Rock, who is one year younger than Fagan and Balcan, will verify that with first-hand experience. As the story goes in Levittown, Fagan once threw a pitch that hit, and subsequently cracked, then-11-year-old Rock's protective cup.

Rock denies the cracking of the cup, but said that doesn't take away from the power of Fagan's right arm.

"He didn't crack it," Rock assured. "I squared around to bunt, and he threw an inside fastball. I couldn't get out of the way. It hurt. It hurt a lot."

Nine years ago, a team of Levittown West All-Stars featuring Fagan, Rock and Balcan fell just one win short of winning the New York State Championship. In turn, it also came five games short of a trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport. After that game, Fagan and his teammates set a goal. From that point forward, the teammates focused all of their efforts on the baseball field toward winning a state championship in high school.

They knew it would take a lot of work, and a lot of time.

If it meant extra batting practice, that's what they would do.

If it meant spending free periods in high school raking the dirt around the infield, cutting the grass and sucking rainwater out of puddles with a wet-dry vacuum, consider it done.

"All of those guys had a lot of success," Division Avenue baseball coach Doug Robins said. "They're all pretty good players, they're great guys, hard workers and very dedicated."

That success showed as the days passed from Little League to high school for Fagan and his teammates. From the seventh to the 12th grades, Fagan's teams lost just 10 games. In 1995, when Schneidler was a senior, Rock a sophomore and Fagan and Balcan juniors, the Division Avenue Blue Dragons went 26-2 and gave the Levittown quartet a chance to fulfill the then-six-year-old goal of winning a New York State Class "B" Championship game.

The Blue Dragons, however, lost.

"We were all crying and everything," Fagan said. "I was upset. It was the last time I'd play with Dennis. In our minds, we all knew what our goal was. In the summer, we took all the steps to get to the states.

"As we were getting closer and closer, we knew it was now or never."

Support for the team's quest was evident in Levittown, which Robins told his players was the capital of baseball on baseball-crazy Long Island.

For bigger games, especially the playoffs and battles with cross-town rival General Douglas MacArthur High School, it was not uncommon for the Blue Dragons to be playing in front of crowds of between 1,000 and 2,000 fans.

Such large crowds made Division Avenue's ballpark a less-than-jovial place for visiting fans to visit.

"They were really rowdy," Schneidler said. "They abused everyone. Everywhere we went, they were there, too. Everyone hated playing us. They used to have parents coming over to our bench complaining. I was laughing while I was pitching."

The fans didn't just support the Blue Dragons with their attendance. With the school's budget for baseball not able to fully support the team, the fans and players' parents made sure Fagan and his teammates didn't have to pay a dime for road trips.

Balcan's family sold hot dogs, soda and other concessions from a stand at all the home games, with all proceeds going to the baseball team. Today, the parents hold numerous fundraisers -- including a Night at the Races and a Christmas tree sale -- to continually support the team they arrange their schedules around during the long summer months.

In 1996, the Blue Dragons, led by Fagan, made the fans' dedication pay off with a perfect 29-0 record and a New York State Class "B" championship.

It was the happiest moment of their lives. It was a team that Levittown still has not forgotten.

"A lot of teachers talk about, 'How is the team going to be? Like the team in '96?' " Robins said. "A lot of our players now looked up to those guys as players. The thing is, they are very levelheaded, very down to earth. They are very respected as both people and players."

When the Nittany Lions' doubleheader with C.W. Post kicks off at Beaver Field Saturday, Fagan will undoubtedly be caught gazing into the opposing dugout. The same probably can be said for Rock, Balcan and Schneidler.

But when each team takes to the diamond, childhood friendships will be put aside, at least for as long as it takes to decide a winner. After all, the people of Levittown, that suburban community big on baseball, would have it no other way.

"Nothing against them, but I respect Penn State," Fagan said. "They respect C.W. Post. They're going to be trying to win, because that's what we learned in Levittown."