Senior infielder Jim Leitgeb has few fond memories of the Penn State baseball team's former home.

"When I first got here, Beaver Field was actually a real nice field," Leitgeb said. "But as the years went on, it just got harder and the ball bounced a lot differently."

Fellow senior Matt Cavagnaro, the Nittany Lions' leadoff hitter and starting second baseman, has even fewer.

"There was no such thing as a true hop there," Cavagnaro said. "The only thing I tried to do on that field was get in front of the ball, use good fielding mechanics, and hope to God that it didn't take a bad hop."

Penn State will look to leave those unflattering memories behind and start building better ones when it plays its long-awaited home opener -- the inaugural game at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park -- against Central Connecticut at 6:35 tonight. The Lions and Blue Devils will also clash at 2:05 p.m. tomorrow and 1:05 p.m. Sunday.

Tonight's tilt will be the first ever meeting between Penn State (2-12) and Central Connecticut (4-1), as well as the first ever collegiate game played at what many players have affectionately dubbed "The Med."

For the Lions, opening up a brand-new ballpark just adds to their existing excitement of donning their home jerseys for the first time this season.

"I'm excited to finally play at home, and especially because we'll have a couple weekends in a row at home," said Leitgeb, who will be playing in the final home opener of his career. "Plus, we don't have to worry about traveling all the time, and jet lag and everything like that."

Penn State has played its first 14 games of the year on the road and, despite an impressive, 3-2 victory against then-No. 1 North Carolina on March 3, have had little success as the visitor.

Since the win against the Tar Heels, the Lions have been stricken with a winless drought and dropped eight-straight contests -- one loss shy of their worst losing streak in the last 10 seasons.

Perhaps having a homefield advantage for the first time in a long time will be the perfect remedy, according to Cavagnaro.

"[The Med] is our field, and when teams come in there they should be in awe of it because I've yet to see a college baseball field like it," he said. "We want to protect our homefield and not lose on it."

Penn State will get eight consecutive opportunities to do just that, starting tonight.

Following this weekend's series, the Lions will serve as host to Minnesota for three games to begin Big Ten play, as well as Bucknell and Kent State for one game each.

In the next few weeks, talk of a losing streak could be replaced by one of a winning streak. But, for right now, Penn State's focus is solely on getting a win in its next game.

"We're not here to lose, we don't like to lose, and, quite honestly, we don't want to lose anymore," Cavagnaro said. "We're just looking to [tonight], under the lights ... and then we can start rolling from there."