MANCHESTER -- Long after the Southern New Hampshire University baseball team had won the NCAA Division II East regional Sunday, capping off its run with a 4-3 win over Le Moyne in the championship game, there were still some players and coaches hanging around, not yet ready to let go of the moment.

Who could blame them? Stuff like this doesn't happen for many teams. It was a first for the Penmen.

Four years after winning seven games and changing coaches, the transformation was complete for a program that was a baseball afterthought. Well, almost complete.

Penmen coach Scott Loiseau said he and his staff gave their players one day to enjoy themselves and then it was time “to turn the page.”

The Penmen (42-13) are in Cary, N.C., at the USA Baseball training complex, for the Division II World Series. They open the eight-team tournament Saturday at 5 p.m., against the Central Regional champion, Minnesota State-Mankato (48-10).

“Now our goals need to be bigger than what we've done,” Loiseau said.

Success is no stranger to SNHU athletics. The Penmen won a national championship in men's soccer, and the men's basketball team once went to the Final Four in back-to-back years. Just this year, four teams — men's soccer, men's and women's tennis and baseball — not only went to NCAA tournaments, they all hosted at least one round.

But this one, long-time SNHU athletic director Chip Polak said, is different.

“It was one of the most unique events we ever hosted and I've ever been involved with,” Polak said. “Maybe it's the newness that adds to it. It's exciting.”

The Penmen were the top seed in the regional and hosted the four-day tournament. In that sense, maybe this shouldn't be unexpected. This is a good team.

But no one — not Loiseau, not Polak, not even the players — could have honestly seen this coming so soon. The Penmen were a combined 32-51-2 over Loiseau's first two seasons, were barely over .500 a year ago and started a lineup this season that included five sophomores.

But they had veteran pitchers. A deep rotation was built around seniors Brad Monroe and Zach LeBarron and junior Tim Flight. The offense proved to be good, the bullpen was dependable and the team got off to a great start, winning 25 of its first 27 games.

That start allowed them to absorb a late-season slump that cost them a spot in the conference tournament. They shook off the rust of an 11-day layoff to win four of five games in the regional, giving up just 11 runs in those five games.

Flight was the centerpiece, delivering time and again. The lefty is a finalist for the Tino Martinez Award as top player in Division II for good reason. He was the unanimous pitcher of the year in the region, going 8-1 with a 1.22 earned run average and a program-record 131 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings.

He opened the regional Thursday by allowing three hits, walking three and striking out 13 over eight shutout innings in a 3-0 win over Dowling. Then he came back and delivered three serviceable innings in Sunday's championship game.

He, of course, will start Saturday's game.

Flight said he likes not knowing much about his opponent; that makes it fun. The only thing Loiseau said he knew about the Mavericks is that they lost to Franklin Pierce University in the CWS two years ago.

The Mavericks are making their sixth trip to the World Series. They are going for the second time in three years and their 31 trips to the NCAA is second most all-time in Division II.

In other words, this stuff isn't new to them, like it is for the Penmen.

“It's definitely a worry and we addressed it,” Loiseau said of his team's inexperience in this environment. “In the end, it's baseball. The stage is just bigger.”

So far, the Penmen have hit all their lines.

Email Jim Fennell at jfennell@unionleader.com.