STATE COLLEGE, Pa., May 31, 2000 -- Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang suffered acute chest pain early Wednesday morning and is reported in stable condition after being transferred from Centre Community Hospital to the Hershey Medical Center.

Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, director of athletic medicine at Penn State, said that Hindelang, 54, will have an additional cardiac evaluation by the cardiovascular service of the College of Medicine at Hershey. Further treatment will be decided based on that assessment.

The medical emergency may preclude Hindelang from traveling with his Nittany Lion baseball team to the NCAA Super Regional in Austin, Tex., this weekend. The Nittany Lions are scheduled to meet the University of Texas Longhorns in a best of three-game series beginning Friday at 7 p.m. CDT. The winner advances to the NCAA College World Series, June 9-17, in Omaha, Neb.

Athletic director Tim Curley said assistant coach Randy Ford will be acting head coach should Hindelang be incapacitated.

"It is most regrettable that Joe may be unable to accompany his team to Texas for this important moment in his coaching career," Curley said. "Our number one concern, however, is that Joe receives the proper medical attention and experiences a speedy and complete recovery. Should Joe be unavailable, we are confident that Randy Ford will do an excellent job and know that the hearts of the team and coaching staff will be with Joe in spirit."

The Nittany Lions set a season record for victories with 45 and led the nation in regular-season batting average with a mark of .358. Penn State is on a four-game winning streak and its 45-17 record ranks the Lions No. 18 in the most recent Collegiate Baseball poll.

Making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1976 and 19th overall, Penn State has not appeared in the NCAA College World Series since 1973 when it was eliminated in two games. The Lions' best finish came in 1957 when they were runners-up to California.

Hindelang is in his tenth, and by far most successful season, as head coach of the Nittany Lions. His Penn State record is 280-237-2, a winning percentage of .541. His 1996 team was the Big Ten regular season champion. The 2000 Lions finished as runner-up in the Big Ten and advanced to the championship game of the conference tournament before dropping a 5-3 decision to Illinois.

Hindelang took over the Penn State program in 1991 after a highly-successful stint as head coach at Lafayette. Prior to coaching at Lafayette, Hindelang was the head coach at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science for five years.

A 1967 Temple graduate, Hindelang lettered three years in baseball and two in basketball for the Owls. He was a key reserve on Temple's 1966 National Invitation Tournament quarterfinal basketball team and a draft selection by the New York Yankees as a pitcher.

Quotes Regarding Coach Hindelang

Acting head coach Randy Ford
"I talked to coach Hindelang before practice and he assured us he was fine. The doctors wanted to do more tests. He remains in good spirits. We would like to have him on this trip, but his health is more important."

"When the players found out they were obviously concerned about his his condition. I'm sure they would like to dedicate this series to him and play as hard as they can. I want to win this series too for coach Hindelang. We practiced well and we're going to be ready to play some baseball."

Catcher Chris Netwall
"I was surprised. I didn't expect it just like the rest of the guys. We've played without players before and now we're going to have to play without our coach. It's obviously going to be in the back of our minds, but we're still playing to win."

Pitcher Pete Yodis
"I was shocked like everyone on the team. I just thought about how he's put in 10 years at Penn State to get to a regional and now we're at a super regional and he's not going to be there. It's got to be frustrating."