Wearing a Red Land Patriots jersey, a young lefty named Griffin works on his game inside Xtra Innings Baseball in Camp Hill.
The man in charge of his lesson knows a thing or two about being a lefty for Red Land.
"I had the opportunity to go speak to the 11-year-old All-Star team and the eight-year-old All-Star team the other day before their games," recalled Cole Wagner. "So that was really cool. It gets a little emotional going back to those fields and just running the memories through my head of the awesome opportunities and experiences I had with some of my best friends."
Whether it was playing in Williamsport for the Little League World Series, or in State College for a PIAA state championship, even at a young age, Wagner left quite the baseball legacy in South Central Pennsylvania.
The Red Land valedictorian signed to continue his academics and athletics at Georgia, but last summer came to a tough decision to step away from the game.
"My time at the University of Georgia was nothing but awesome. So I'm honored to be a UGA alum. Baseball-wise, I just felt like it wasn't the right place for me."
So close to graduation, Wagner didn't want to transfer. But an opportunity at a facility in Georgia kept baseball on deck in his life.
"Phil Roberts reached out to me about potentially helping out with some of their group classes and stuff. So I was able to train while I was down at school and in turn, gave some lessons and helped out with some of their classes. That was sort of my first introduction to coaching and working with youth athletes. While I was doing it, I realized that I've got a real passion for it, I love doing it," said Wagner.
Through years of competing at all levels, Wagner has learned a lot. But he also knows areas that he wishes he heard more about while growing up around the game.
That's something he takes with him as he offers lessons to young athletes in the region this summer.
"I think there's definitely a little bit of the things I felt like I needed to come through. I try to be as positive and as encouraging as possible with these kids. You know, the younger that they are, the more fun that they need to have," claimed Wagner. "That's something that I firmly believe and as we get older we get a little bit more technical and the lessons get less fun and a little more boring. I tell them, 'When we own the boring stuff, the games get a lot more fun.'"
And some time away from baseball helped him find his way back to it.
"I left my options open. I put a post out on Instagram, saying I was walking away from the game and I think that was kind of an emotional response, too. I sort of gave myself the freedom to not think about it. I didn't put pressure on myself that this is what I had to do. I took three months where I was totally away from baseball," recalled Wagner. "In that time, I realized that it's something I love to do. It's it's something I've been blessed with the ability to do and I feel like I'm not quite ready to walk away from it yet. So it wasn't an easy decision by any means, but I definitely had great people around me, supporting me."
Penn State was one of the teams that came calling when the time was right, which will bring Wagner full circle to a diamond he has a history with when he suits up for the Nittany Lions next year.
"When I decided I wanted to play baseball again, Penn State was definitely at the top of that list. I wanted to come home and felt like it was a program that was moving in the right direction. There was a lot of investment being made. You know, it was an exciting time to be a part of that Penn State baseball program and getting to watch the success that they had. This year was a lot of fun, so I couldn't be more thrilled to be a Nittany Lion."