They welcome challenges.

They’re primed to face them, stare them down, and thrive despite them.

They know that success doesn’t come easily or effortlessly. They know, as well, that adversity, as the adage goes, introduces a man to himself. 

That’s the mindset with which the Goochland Bulldogs go about their baseball business.

It was no surprise, then, that they put that mindset into action Monday night in their 14-2 victory over visiting Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School.

“We want to be like buffaloes,” said senior catcher Will Johns. “They run towards the storm. No matter what, we want to fight and do everything we can to come out on top.”

That, the Bulldogs did, of course.

They never flinched despite the steady 15-mile-per-hour wind with occasional gusts that blew from left to right across the field and made the mid-50’s evening seem even colder as twilight descended.

They weren’t fazed when the Dragons (1-1) scored a run in the first and another in the second.

They weren’t deterred, either, when they fell into a two-out-and-nothing-to-show hole in each of the first four innings.

That, you see, was when their bats awoke, opportunities arose, and they made the most of them.

Wow! Man, did they!

The bottom of the second began inauspiciously, however.

Then, after their first two batters struck out, Josh Kempf drew a walk and moved to second when Kinyon Ross was hit by a pitch. 

Johns, who bats first in the order, followed with a triple to the centerfield fence 360 feet away to score Kempf and Ross and put the Bulldogs (2-1) up 3-2.

The energy among the Goochland faithful was building. The dugout was electric.

Sam Farkas beat out an infield single to send Johns home, then stole second and advanced to third on an error.

Walks to Charlie Harrington and Jackson Bell loaded the bases, Chase Hicks walked scoring Farkas, and Logan Everett reached base on an error to score courtesy runner Aiden Haskell and Bell.

Jackson Barber reached base on an outfield error as Hicks raced home and Everett sprinted to third before the Dragons could record the final out.

All told, the Bulldogs sent 13 batters to the plate in the second, scored seven runs on just two hits, and held a 9-2 lead that they would build upon with four more runs in the third and another in the fourth.

“Everyone was just trying to put the ball in play and move runners as runners got on,” said Johns. “We did a very good job of that tonight.”

Harrington continued the onslaught with a two-out double in the third. Before the inning was over, Haskell (Harrington’s courtesy runner), Bell, Evan Parrish (pinch runner for Hicks), and Everett crossed the plate.

“We have an aggressive mentality where we’re really pushing the envelope,” said Goochland coach Wes Farkas. “We’re trying to squeeze out an extra base. They hit a pop fly early that we couldn’t figure out (because of the wind), so I told our guys, ‘Once that ball’s in the air, you take that extra base because there’s a good chance they might not get to it either.'"

Harrington, a 6-0, 190-pound junior righthander with an 88-mile-per-hour fastball, pitched four innings, threw 76 pitches (39 for strikes), allowed three hits, two runs, both earned, and struck out three.

“My pitches were working well,” Harrington said. “I was working with my catcher Will (Johns) to throw strikes. That was it.”

And the wind?

“It definitely got a little chilly out there,” he said. “I just trusted my stuff and threw strikes. You just have to stay composed and deal with it.”

Which, of course, echoes the Bulldogs’ be-like-buffaloes mentality, the approach that Farkas, the coach, picked up at the Virginia Baseball Coaches Association conference in Charlottesville in December and introduced during preseason training.

“One of the coaches mentioned it in his seminar,” he said. “I took that and ran with it.

“The buffalo is the animal that runs into the storm while the other animals run away or lie down. It’s the mentality of getting that extra base, being willing to command the box and get hit by pitches, and diving for plays in the hole. That’s the effort we’re looking for.

“At the beginning of the season, I challenged them. This is what we want to be about. We want to be a team that not only runs into the storm but runs into the storm for each other.”