Plymouth State baseball team will call Robbie Mills home this season

LACONIA — Spring rains might bring flowers, but this year, the heavy early season precipitation is also bringing collegiate baseball to the city.

Plymouth State University’s athletic fields were inundated with floodwaters earlier this spring, leaving the baseball team without a place to play their home games. Laconia’s Robbie Mills Sports Complex, sitting high and dry off Meredith Center Road, emerged as the home-away-from-home for the Panthers.

“We’re pretty excited. It’s a great little field, the facilities are nice there,” said Chris Kilmer, spokesperson for Plymouth’s athletics department.

Of course, the first choice for Plymouth would be to play their home games on-campus. However, flooding saturated the fields earlier this year, and damaged some of the infrastructure, such as fencing.

“It’s been a juggling act to get the field back up to the point where we could host a game,” Kilmer said, and that led the university to explore alternative options. “Robbie Mills was an option that came up. ... We’re excited that we can play our season down there, it’s a pretty good alternative.”

Robbie Mills Field, owned by the city, is no stranger to college-level baseball. The Winnipesaukee Muskrats called Robbie Mills home from 2010 until the team’s final season in 2022. The Muskrats played in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a summer league for elite players.

Playing in Laconia will save the university travel fees they would have incurred by filling their schedule with away games, and will also give their local fans a chance to cheer for their Panthers.

The PSU baseball team has a fair number of New Hampshire players, including several on the roster from central New Hampshire. Pitcher Andrew Baxter and Cole Johnston, a pitcher and catcher, are both graduates of Plymouth Regional High School. Catcher Nick Healey and utility player Alex Rives went to New Hampton School. Pitchers Jack Gintof and Adrian Siravo are alumni of, respectively, Inter-Lakes and Gilford high schools.

Kilmer said the games will be “open to the baseball-loving public,” and there won’t be any admission charge. “That’s one of the things we’re excited about,” he said, “their families being able to come and see their kids play is always exciting.”

While Robbie Mills is protected from flooding, it’s not immune to the late season Nor’easter expected to leave deep snow behind on Thursday — and Plymouth’s season opener is scheduled for Saturday, a double-header against Vermont State University Castleton. Kilmer said the athletics department is keeping an eye on the weather, and is “looking into all sorts of opportunities” to keep those games on the schedule.

Looking ahead, Plymouth is scheduled to next play in Laconia at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays, April 16 and 23, Thursday, April 25, and at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 27.

Amy Lovisek, city parks director, said PSU will pay the usual usage fee for access to the park, as well as for use of the lights.

"It is an honor to be chosen by a university to use our baseball field. We always knew the field was special, but it gets used more and more each year. We have been told quite often that Robbie Mills Baseball Field is one of the best in the state," Lovisek said. "We take that very seriously and care for it accordingly. The Parks and Recreation Department spends a lot of time and resources on this field to keep it in such good shape. We are very proud to call it ours."