Summer session helped Connor Maryniak carry Misericordia to World Series

After a sophomore year at Misericordia University that didn’t grade out as well as he hoped, Connor Maryniak attended summer school.

Now the Gov. Mifflin grad is at the top of his class again.

He earned MAC Freedom Player of the Year honors and was named MAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player after leading Misericordia to the league championship and a spot in the NCAA Division III World Series this weekend.

He says the grad-level baseball course he took last summer in the Shenandoah Valley raised his game a level.

“What separated me was playing in the Valley League over the summer and facing those really good arms,” he said of playing summer ball against players from the University of North Carolina, Rice, Creighton, Notre Dame, and Arizona State.

“Every night you’re facing a DI guy throwing mid-90s, low 90s, with a nasty curveball,” Maryniak said. “Coming back here after that slowed the game down for me.”

Maryniak has absolutely crushed it this season with the Cougars, tying the program record with 13 home runs, driving in 68 runs in 47 games – second-most in the league – and slugging .689, also No. 2 in the league.

He might have been even better on the mound – decide for yourself – by going 10-2 with a team-best 1.89 ERA and team-leading 69 strikeouts over 71 1/3 innings.

That kind of two-way performance is rare in college, even at the Division III level. The top players in high school are often seen among the league leaders in both batting and pitching categories, but not in college. The competition is just too good; most players pick a lane and stay in it.

He is the only two-way player named to the d3baseballl.com All-American team, announced earlier this week.

Maryniak’s been able to be just as dominant in the Middle Atlantic Conference as he was at Mifflin, where he was Berks Player of the Year after going 13-0 on the mound batting .393 as a senior in 2021.

“I’ve done that since I’ve been little,” Maryniak said, downplaying his Ohtani-like two-way skills. “Knowing that I could do it at (Mifflin) gave me the confidence I could do it here.”

It took some work to get up to speed.

Maryniak was an instant hit at Misericordia, batting .327 with a 1.028 OPS to earn Rookie of the Year honors in the MAC Freedom in 2022. After the league caught up to him a little last season he knew he had to make changes.

At the suggestion of Misericordia head coach Pete Egbert he dropped his leg kick and widened his stance.

“That really opened up the world of hitting the ball backside and staying on pitches I was struggling with,” the junior shortstop said. “I told him I thought it would hurt the power but he said he thinks it might’ve helped the power, because I’ve doubled my home runs (from last year).”

Some of that pop, Maryniak said, can be attributed to his offseason work with Russ Frantz of Next Play Sports in Schuylkill Haven. He worked on a leg program at the baseball-training facility over winter break, got stronger and increased his mobility.

“It’s helped me drive the ball all over the yard,” he said.

Maryniak has made his biggest gains on the mound. After allowing 56 hits over 45 innings and pitching to a 5.60 ERA as a sophomore he has become one of the most dominating pitchers in the nation at his level.

Developing a changeup, he said, has made all the difference in the world.

“That third pitch is so big, especially against lefties,” he said. “It funnels with my fastball really nicely. It’s another way to make outs. My curveball’s always been there, but my changeup’s really developed this last year.”

He credits first-year pitching coach Bill Gregory for helping him tweak his grip and gain confidence with the pitch.

He said knowing he’s going to start on the mound on a regular basis has helped him settle in; he was used as both a starter and reliever his first two seasons.

“This year I’ve gotten into a good routine,” he said. “It gets me mentally locked in, (knowing) when I’m going to throw and who I’m going to face.”

Maryniak began the season 0-2 but has reeled off 10 straight wins since. He’ll go for 11 in a row Saturday, in Misericordia’s second game.

The fifth-seeded Cougars open the double-elimination tournament Friday at East Lake, Ohio, against No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer.

The Cougars (39-9) have won 11 straight. They swept Christopher Newport in a best-of-three Super Regional championship series last weekend at Newport News, Va. Maryniak struck out nine over seven innings in the series-clinching 2-1 victory.

One week earlier he pitched a four-hitter in the MAC tournament-clinching 2-1 win over Arcadia. He had five RBIs and drove in four runs in four tournament games.

Misericordia is in the World Series for just the third time, and in back-to-back years for the first time. Last year it became just the second team in Middle Atlantic Conference history to earn a win at the World Series before being eliminated after three games.

“Last year we were happy to make it there,” Maryniak said, “but I feel with our experience we can really do something special this year. It’s definitely a different feeling. I feel we have a way better shot to make some noise out there.

“We did everything we could in the offseason to prepare for this moment, to get back and win a national title.”