With baseball team’s return, La Salle AD Ashwin Puri works on field upgrades and more

When La Salle decided in April to reinstate its baseball program, athletic director Ashwin Puri wasted no time reaching out to potential candidates to fill the head-coaching spot. David Miller, the coach before the program was eliminated in 2021, was the “natural choice,” considering that he had already “built a winner at La Salle.”

The two made contact when Miller, then the coach at Manhattan College, was working on his final series of the season, against Rider.

About two weeks later, Miller was rehired to lead the Explorers’ baseball team.

Though Miller brings a winning pedigree back to La Salle — he set the school record in wins with 32 in 2021, then set Division III Penn State Abington’s school record in wins a year later (33) — Puri is not expecting the Explorers to win the Atlantic 10 right away. La Salle has time on its side, returning to competition during the 2025-26 school year.

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

The university is preparing to offer the resources to rebuild the program — operating budget; scholarships; navigating the name, image, and likeness era in college sports; and infrastructure — specifically regarding Hank DeVincent Field, the Explorers’ home turf.

“There’s some low-hanging fruit,” Puri said. “We need some new infrastructure in the form of a scoreboard, that needs to be upgraded. We need to look at our seating and fan amenities, but I think that’s going to take some time. We need to look at the pitching and batting cages, especially during the wintertime.

“Making sure the field is operational and the turf is in great shape, and making sure the kids can work out, practice, and play [on it] year-round.”

DeVincent Field, which opened in 1978, also serves as the primary field for field hockey. According to La Salle’s website, the last renovation was in 2019, when a new turf surface was installed. Before that, the dugouts were lengthened and updated in 2012, and in 2007 the university built a large wall in left field to prevent field hockey balls from breaking windows. Also in 2007, new batting cages were installed on the opposite end of the field.

But that doesn’t mean the field is unplayable right now, Puri said. If La Salle fields a baseball team in the spring of 2025, Puri believes the field is in “great shape” and would need just a few tweaks. He’ll consult Miller about specific upgrades to the facility, which has a 1,000-person seating capacity. But he’s also realistic about how those proposed renovations would happen: through fundraising.

“We’ve got a lot of ideas, but we’ve got to sort of refine those to determine the path to fundraise for them,” Puri said. “So the time in which it’s done is a function of our supporters stepping up — right? — and buying into the vision. We are putting that [vision] together now, and we’re going to be out very publicly with an aggressive fundraising strategy in the near future.”

» READ MORE: La Salle baseball is coming back. Here’s what some former Explorers think about it.

The baseball program is still in the early stages of its return. Miller has a staff to fill out, and his focus will shift to recruiting after that. Puri noted that in conversations with fans and alumni, there’s palpable excitement around the program. He believes there’s enough local talent, alongside Miller’s ability to recruit — he had four nationally ranked recruiting classes during his time at Manhattan and his previous La Salle stint — to rebuild effectively.

“He was able to build a winner with a bunch of headwinds that don’t exist today,” Puri said of Miller. “The program being cut, or with conversations around the discontinued program. [The] budget challenge is the whole thing, right? And we’re working to solve all those things. He’s got a [clearer] path here to build a great roster and win baseball games.”