Fravel approved as Bellefonte baseball coach

Dan Fravel was approved as the Bellefonte baseball coach Tuesday night.

Fravel, who is a math teacher at State College High School, served as an assistant coach for the Little Lions baseball program for nine years and worked as a volunteer assistant for Bellefonte for one year.

Fravel was the head coach at Rising Sun High School in Maryland from 1997-2004 and led the team to two state championships before moving back to central Pennsylvania, where he always planned to lead another program.

“That’s the gig I love, working with kids and helping them get better at the game of baseball,” Fravel said. “The Bellefonte position opened up and I’ve been honest with everybody for 12 years since being back here. I was looking to try to be a head coach again.”

Fravel graduated from Bald Eagle Nittany High School and went on to play three years for the Penn State baseball program. He graduated from Penn State in 1995.

He last served as an assistant for State College in 2014.

Fravel spent last baseball season coaching his kids’ teams.

He got started with the Red Raiders last week.

“I can see it in the kids as we’ve started our open gyms — very excited, they’re kind of like a sponge, wide-eyed, ready to work out,” Fravel said. “We’ve had over 30 kids for a couple different workouts.”

Fravel replaces Jeremy Rellinger, who led Bellefonte to the District 6 Class AAA championship last season.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Fravel approved as Bellefonte baseball coach."