CARY, N.C. — The Southern New Hampshire baseball team might be getting its first experience in the NCAA baseball tournament, but the predicament it faces at the Division II College World Series is anything but unfamiliar.

After winning their opening game at the double-elimination national championship event on Saturday, the Penmen dropped into the losers’ bracket with a 13-7 setback to West Chester on Monday. In order to earn the title, coach Scott Loiseau’s upstart team must now win three straight games without any margin for error.

That might be an intimidating task if SNHU hadn’t just dug itself out of an identical hole just last week at the NCAA’s East Regional.

“I personally don’t think it will take us long to bounce back,” catcher Kevin Spatkowski said after his team squandered a late lead by allowing nine runs in the final two innings Monday. “The same thing happened at the East Regionals. As long as the guys play loose, we’ll be fine.”

The Penmen (43-14) will begin their climb back through the losers’ bracket today at 3 p.m. with a rematch against Minnesota State at the USA Baseball Training Complex. The third-ranked Mavericks (49-11) stayed alive with a 6-5 victory against Chico State on Monday.

Loiseau was still unsure of who he’ll pitch in the elimination game after Tuesday’s off-day practice. He said he’ll have confidence in whomever he chooses, even though all three of the candidates pitched — with varying degrees of success — in Monday’s loss.

Senior Zach LeBarron allowed two runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings in relief of starter Junior Mendez. Sophomore right-hander David Gibson allowed a run in two-thirds of an inning and senior righty Brad Monroe failed to retire either of the two batters he faced during a five-run ninth.

“The pitchers have been the backbone of our team all year long,” Loiseau said. “They’ve done a great job. I expect them to bounce back, be ready, do a great job Wednesday and hopefully get us through this tournament.”

Despite suffering a potentially demoralizing defeat, in which normally reliable closer Alex Powers couldn’t hold onto a one-run lead in the eighth, the Penmen don’t appear to be shaken.

They showed their resolve by battling back to nearly tie Monday’s game in the bottom of the eighth. Even though the game slipped away again because of some shoddy pitching in the ninth, the two-run rally showed the kind of resolve first baseman Riley Palmer hopes will carry over into the next game.

“Our bats never die, no matter how many runs down we are,” said Palmer, who hit the tournament’s first home run to give SNHU a short-lived lead.

“This definitely puts us down a little bit,” Spatkowski added. “But as you can see, all it takes is one hit to get a little life in the dugout.”

Flight is pitcher of year

Flight was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division II Pitcher of the Year, and he earned NCBWA First Team All-America honors.

Flight is also a finalist for the Tino Martinez Award, awarded to the best player in Division II baseball, as well as the consensus East Region Pitcher of the Year.

In 15 starts this season, the lefthander is 9-1 with a 1.30 earned run average and 140 strikeouts in 102.2 innings of work. Also the Northeast-10 Pitcher of the Year, Flight ranks among the national leaders in strikeouts, ERA and strikeouts per nine innings.

Flight is the second SNHU student-athlete in the history of the athletic department to garner a national Player of the Year award. Men’s soccer standout Mounir Tajiou was the NSCAA Division II Player of the Year in 2002.