La Salle’s three-phase rebuild of its revived baseball program is now headed to second

It’s cliché to say, but in the ongoing revival of La Salle’s baseball program, phase one in a three-part revamp is complete.

On Monday, alumni, former players and lovers of the program held an inaugural golf outing to benefit a team that is set to take the field next spring. Phase I of the process, a revamp of La Salle’s Hank DeVincent Field, which is nestled in the middle of the sprawling campus, is underway. Enough capital has been raised for an infrastructure project that includes significant upgrades to the stadium and the fencing that surrounds it, and the creation of an indoor complex will begin, according to Explorers athletic director Ashwin Puri.

Puri was one of many on hand at LuLu Country Club in Glenside to thank donors for their efforts and hint that efforts are now going into Phase II, which will see a revamp of locker room facilities and amenities for players start to take shape.

“I’m really excited that the response [to bringing baseball back] has been amazing,” Puri said. “You can see just by looking around this room. This is our first outing, and there are just a lot of people excited about what we’re looking to reinstate, but I think even more so, how we’re looking to do it.”

What La Salle is doing has turned heads, particularly in the realm of recruiting. According to the college baseball website Perfect Game, the Explorers’ 2025 recruiting class is among the top 30 in the nation, nestled in between schools like Stanford and Arizona, known to be among college baseball’s elite.

They haven’t even built it yet, and already, they’re starting to come. Puri would like to believe that David Miller, now in his second stint as head coach, is a significant reason for that.

“Dave is doing a great job recruiting, and because of that, we think we have a chance to be competitive in the [Atlantic 10 Conference] immediately, Puri said. “I’m not suggesting we’re going to win the A-10, but I think we’ll be competitive. The nice thing about Dave is he started to build a very sustainable, competitive program when he left, so he knows, outside looking in, what it actually takes to build something from the inside out.”

» READ MORE: For players and alumni awaiting the return of La Salle baseball, the anticipation is the hardest part

Part of this rebirth is a chance for Miller to prove to himself that before the program was halted in 2021, his method was working. Miller takes pride in telling anyone who will listen that 10 players on that 2021 team ended up continuing their careers in the minor leagues.

Plus, there’s an affinity to the program for Miller that never left. Some of his best friends were on the basketball team during the 1990s. His wife, Delores, is a La Salle alumna. But most important, it was the school that gave Miller his shot at coaching Division I baseball.

And in his second stint, a bid he won after a nationwide search for a head coach, he still hasn’t forgotten that.

“It broke my heart when they canceled the program because we were so close to taking that next step,” Miller said. “So when they brought it back, I could’ve gone two ways. I could remain upset or say I’m going to turn the page and finish what I started. I have unfinished business here. My mindset was always to make this a destination program for college baseball in the Northeast.

“When you think of the Northeast, you think of Penn State, Pitt, Boston College, the University of Connecticut. I want La Salle to be on that list. That’s where my mindset is, and that’s what a lot of these alumni and this new administration want as well.”

» READ MORE: David Miller aspires to turn reborn La Salle baseball into a ‘destination program’

The capital raised for the revival of baseball at the university has come from fundraising efforts and donations. Helping lead that charge is Billy Watts, who played right field at La Salle from 1988-94. Watts, a senior vice president at General Mills, took a strategic approach: To him, it wasn’t just about imploring donors to give but also about having a tangible thing to show where those dollars were going.

Generating funds and kick-starting construction for Phase I was slated to be a yearlong effort. According to Watts and Puri, La Salle tackled both in a little over six months.

“About three or four years ago when they started talking about bringing the program back, I was like, ‘All right, that’s great, but you’ve got to show me,’” Watts said. “I think for most of us, the opinion was, I’m not going to give you something financially that I don’t believe in, and that I want to make sure we see there’s a sustainable growth model.

“A lot of programs do this thing where they get some excitement, bring some alumni back, and a year later, they’re nowhere. I wanted to make sure that wasn’t us, that we’ve got some disciplines in place and that we’re organized. So to see what we’ve been able to do thanks to so many people who believe in this program, it just feels really good.”

Next up is the second phase, which is all about infrastructure for the players. Right now, there is no locker room at DeVincent Field. Having a place to play is one thing, but making it feel like home is what this next part will try to accomplish. Once that’s complete, Puri noted that infrastructure to enhance the fan experience is the goal — everything from concessions to better seating to making it feel more like a stadium and not just a ball field.

“Right now it’s not a Division I ball field,” Miller said. “But these improvements are a long way in getting us there and making this place a beautiful place to play. You’ve seen what’s been done with the renovations of [La Salle’s basketball arena], it’s a legit Division I court that’s going to bring a Division I atmosphere. I truly believe these efforts will do the same for our program, and people will notice.”

Those people are interested recruits and transfers. Miller has been able to woo transfers from the likes of UConn, Memphis, and Coastal Carolina, the latter of which made it to the College World Series finale this spring.

Many believe that this second go-round for La Salle in baseball has the potential to be better than the first. Immediate proof of that was in the packed room that took part in a golf outing in searing July temperatures.

Long-term proof? That’s still very much a wait-and-see.

“If you look at Dave’s trajectory when he was here last time, he had the program competing to make the A-10 postseason,” Puri said. “I want that to be the goal. I want to make the A-10 postseason as much as possible and compete for a postseason berth. Let’s get into that postseason tournament, that’s the goal. Honestly? I think it’s really possible here. With the way he’s been recruiting and the way our alumni have stepped up to build infrastructure around the program, it’s hard to look around this room and I think we’re not set up for success.”

» READ MORE: Check out the Inquirer's complete coverage of La Salle athletics right here!