‘Really resilient’: West Chester is battle-tested and ready to chase another Division II baseball championship

West Chester is staring down its greatest challenge of the baseball season with a face full of scars and a battle-tested resumé.

The eighth-seeded Rams (34-13) will face top-seeded North Greenville (50-10) on Sunday in Cary, N.C., in the NCAA Division II championship bracket. It’s an eight-team double-elimination tournament with a chance at the program’s third title (2012, 2017).

Developing what it takes to weather falling behind in back-to-back best-of-three series before twice sweeping the next two games doesn’t happen in the spring. It happens in the fall, long before opening day.

“We spent a lot of time in the fall really digging into what our culture is and who we are as West Chester baseball,” said coach Mike LaRosa, who was West Chester’s starting second baseman from 2002-05. “We try to address it all on the front end like we’re going to experience adversity at some point. Championship teams are always tested at some point.”

Over the summer, the Rams brought in five transfers from La Salle after the program folded, along with four transfers from other schools. There were some early concerns among the players about how the turnover might affect team chemistry.

LaRosa, entering his second year at the helm, and his staff put their team through six rigorous weeks, challenging them mentally and physically. The weeks were split up to align with West Chester’s six-letter acronym of core values: HUSTLE — Hard work, being Uncommon, Sacrifice, Teamwork, Leadership, and Energy.

Early Thanksgiving morning, the team banded together for the West Chester Turkey Trot 5K. A tough, hilly terrain tested the group’s resolve. There was another week capped by a Saturday morning ROTC training session, as the team went through a gantlet of mentally exhausting workouts.

The next time the Rams were tested came 20 games into the season, when they held a 17-3 record. They endured a five-game losing streak in early April — their longest drought of the year — falling twice to Bloomsburg, dropping a game at Chestnut Hill, then back-to-back games against Shepherd.

“You don’t know a lot about a team until you get punched in the mouth,” said sophomore reliever Joe Messina, a right-hander who transferred from La Salle. “I think we needed that. … We never panicked. It was just guys coming together.”

West Chester finished the back end of the regular season winning 12 of its last 14 games.

“The mental toughness, that’s Coach’s big thing,” said third baseman Keith Flaherty, a graduate student. “We’re all about, like, don’t complain, no excuses, work hard, and shut up. Then when you’re on the field in that high-pressure moment, you’re not fazed by anything.”

On May 20, the Rams lost the opener of a three-game series, 18-7, against Seton Hill in the NCAA regional round. In the middle of the eighth inning, lightning forced a 3-hour, 12-minute delay. LaRosa sent his team inside, joining his players about 15 minutes later.

The Rams had held a players-only meeting before the start of the season, jotting down on the clubhouse whiteboard a list of goals. Now LaRosa wasn’t pointing at the tangible goals like surpassing a win total or winning a championship. LaRosa drew attention to the immeasurable ones: sticking together through thick and thin and being a team at all times.

“I’m like, ‘Guys, this is the time where this stuff comes to practice. Otherwise it’s just words on a whiteboard,’” LaRosa said. “I felt like they entered the locker room with their heads down a little bit, and they left the locker room very optimistic.”

They showed up the next day, as Flaherty recalls, without a single worry. A 5-4 win and then a 9-6 win in 11 innings in Game 3 propelled West Chester to the super regional.

The following weekend, it happened all over again. An 11-10 loss to East Stroudsburg left the Rams one defeat from elimination. Saturday’s game was postponed, forcing a doubleheader on Sunday. And the Rams, behind the mental fortitude established in the fall, won two straight, 5-3 and 8-6. Braeden Fausnaught pitched a complete game, and Luke Cantwell homered twice in Game 2. West Chester came back from a four-run deficit in Game 3.

“I came back to the dugout, and it was just all positive talk,” LaRosa said after the loss in the super regional. “They’re really resilient, and it showed in those moments. Those are moments where teams have breaking points and division can happen, but it just didn’t happen with our guys.”