CARY, N.C. — All it took was one swing of the bat Friday for Kevin Spatkowski to realize he wasn’t in New Hampshire anymore.

Instead of the usual crack when he made contact, there was an unfamiliar ping.

It’s a sound and a sensation to which Spatkowski and the rest of the Southern New Hampshire baseball team will have to adjust quickly as they prepare to begin play at the Division II College World Series.

For the first time since an early March trip to Florida, the Penmen will be using metal bats instead of the wood ones required in Northeast-10 Conference play. Although it will be different, Spatkowski doesn’t think the change will have an adverse affect on his team’s potent offense.

SNHU (42-13) opens play in the national championship tournament against No. 5 Minnesota State (48-10) at 5 p.m. today at the USA Baseball Training Complex.

“I honestly feel like going from wood to aluminum is easier than going from aluminum,” said Spatkowski, a senior catcher who earned MVP honors at last week’s NCAA East Regional. “There isn’t as big a sweet spot with the wood bats. With the aluminum, there’s a little more room for error. Maybe it will take us a game to get used to it, but it shouldn’t take us that long.”

Even though this is a double-elimination tournament, the Penmen can’t afford to take too long getting used to the surroundings and their new equipment.

A year ago, Northeast-10 rival Southern Connecticut State came to Cary under the same circumstances and was shut out on only four hits in its opening game with metal bats. Despite finally heating up and winning a game in the losers’ bracket, the Owls never recovered and were sent home early.

SNHU coach Scott Loiseau said the experience his team got in wins against NCAA tournament teams Nova Southeastern and Lynn earlier in this season should help his team with the transition. He was also encouraged by what he saw during Friday’s batting practice.

At the same time, he said it’s tough to tell who will be affected and who won’t until the Penmen face live pitching for the first time today.

“It’s different for every guy,” Loiseau said. “Some guys may take longer than others. The important thing is to take a good approach every time you go to the plate and not worry too much about what kind of bat you’ve got.”

That’s not the only potential distraction the Penmen will have to overcome. There’s also the “happy to be here” syndrome that sometimes hits teams making their debut on the national stage.

Unlike its opponent, Minnesota State, which has played at the Division II CWS as recently as 2010, this is SNHU’s first-ever appearance in an NCAA baseball tournament.

“If we were going to get caught up in the moment, I think it would have been last week (at the regional) when we were thinking about the wins and what it actually meant,” said junior left-hander Tim Flight, today’s starting pitcher. “I feel like now we’re just settled in and focusing on every game. We just have to come out and play every time we can and see what happens.”