Resilient Mustangs didn’t let setbacks get in way of ultimate goal: PIAA championship
2024 Berks baseball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
Resiliency and perseverance.
Those are the two takeaways from Gov. Mifflin’s state championship baseball season.
The Mustangs had the Berks League’s best player in Bryce Detwiler. They had one of the best one-two pitching combos in the state in Ethan Grim and Detwiler. They had a rock behind the plate in catcher Travis Jenkins.
They played solid defense, ran the bases well, did all the little things baseball teams need to do to win games.
But the PIAA championship, finalized last week with a 2-1 win over Hollidaysburg, comes back to the team’s DNA, one built on resiliency and perseverance.
| Gov. Mifflin’s 20-win seasons | W-L | Coach |
| 2024 | 24-5 | Chris Hole |
| 2002 | 23-2 | Mike Mitchell Jr. |
| 1999 | 22-5 | Ed Williamson |
| 2021 | 21-7 | Chris Hole |
| 1975 | 20-3 | Mike Kostewa |
| 2022 | 20-4 | Chris Hole |
| 2015 | 20-8 | Chris Hole |
“We didn’t win (our) division,” said Mifflin coach Chris Hole, “we didn’t win the county, we didn’t win the district and the players did not quit.
“They kept working hard and they ended up being champions at the highest level because of it.”
The Mustangs absorbed three painful losses to rival Wilson, one a walk-off, the last two with titles on the line. They were humbled by Mechanicsburg 6-1 in the District 3 Class 5A championship game.
They did not retreat from those losses. They did not pack it in, thinking they weren’t good enough. They were determined to improve, and they did.
“There’s such a valuable message there of not giving up,” Hole said, “of trying to pursue your goals when you’re knocked down again and again and again.”
The Mustangs saved their best for last, peaking in the state tournament. They dominated their first three PIAA opponents, outscoring them 24-4, then grinded through a challenging championship game.
They played errorless ball in the title game, got six powerful innings from Grim – two hits, 11 strikeouts – then a knockout punch from Detwiler, who closed it by striking out the side in the final inning.
That completed a 14-strikeout performance and capped a state playoff run that saw the Mustangs allow five runs in four games, pitch to a 0.80 ERA and hold opposing batters to a .194 average.
They dominated at the plate as well, batting .361 in those four games and averaging 6.5 runs per game.
Detwiler finished off his Berks Player of the Year season by batting .384, scoring five runs and driving in five during the four games. Overall, he batted .453, slugged .953 and set program records by scoring 46 runs (in 29 games) and by stealing 27 bases (in 29 attempts).
Grim allowed four hits and one run over 12 innings, with 22 strikeouts, in the PIAA Tournament. Overall, he posted a 1.77 ERA and struck out 113 over 71 1/3 innings. (That strikeout total would be a program record had it not been for Connor Maryniak’s incredible 2021 season, when he went 13-0 with 147 strikeouts.)
Detwiler’s pitching numbers were phenomenal, too. He finished 10-2 with two saves, a 1.70 ERA and 90 strikeouts over 70 innings.
The most incredible stat belongs to Jenkins. Not his 45-percent success rate throwing out potential base-stealers or a mere four passed balls in about 175 innings behind the plate.
No, it was the fact that in 110 plate appearances and 86 at-bats he did not strike out — not once. That’s unheard of, especially for a guy who swings with power (he had 13 extra-base hits and a .605 slugging percentage, second-highest on the team).
The Mustangs set a program record by winning 24 times and did it against a top-notch schedule. Nine of those wins came in the postseason. Nine came against state-tournament qualifiers. Two came against Fleetwood, which reached the PIAA Class 4A semifinals. One came against Trinity, which reached the 3A semifinals. One came against Hempfield, the Class 6A champ.
No one thought much of it at the time, when Detwiler hit a grand slam and Grim threw a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts in Mifflin’s 6-0 win at Hempfield, but that turns out to be a pretty sweet line on the resume.
The biggest win – other than the final one – came in the opening round of the state tournament. A win over a Philadelphia Public League baseball team generally doesn’t look like much – the Pub hasn’t had much success at the higher levels of the state tourney. To Hole, the 7-2 win over Frankford was a game-changer.
“There is no state championship if you can’t win the first (state playoff game),” Hole said, “and we never did.”
Good as Mifflin’s baseball program has been over the years it had never won a state tournament game. The Mustangs were 0-4, with three one-run losses. The last of them came in 2021, in 11 innings.
That oh-fer was not lost on Hole, Mifflin’s head coach for 13 seasons and part of the program for 25.
“I just wanted to win Game 1,” he said, “then I knew things would get real exciting, because I knew we had the pitching to be able to keep us in every game. That’s the ingredient that you need to have any kind of special season and we were lucky enough to have a couple guys.”
Mifflin has been knocking on the door in recent years but something always went wrong. In 2022 it opened with a 19-0 record but two-way star Tyler Minick was injured late in the season, couldn’t throw or swing without pain, and things fell apart in the postseason.
The Mustangs were primed again last season after winning the Berks title but were stunned when Exeter and Deven Sheerin shut them down in the opening round of the district tournament.
Baseball is like that; even the greatest teams at the highest levels lose almost a third of the time. An off game by your starting pitcher, an untimely error or baserunning mistake, can knock you out of a tournament in a heartbeat.
That didn’t happen to the Mustangs this season. They got knocked down, dusted themselves off, and played better.
Hard as it is to believe after a 24-5 season but Mifflin could be even better next season. Detwiler, Grim and Jenkins will be seniors. There are several promising sophomores and freshmen who will emerge as impact players.
Mifflin’s championship roster included seven seniors but only two played in the championship game, outfielders Bryce Wunderlich and Joey Berg. The pitching staff loses just one senior and a total three innings (out of 192).
Mifflin will play up a level, at Class 6A, in 2025 but is still capable of another state run.
“We’ve had teams (before) with talent,” said Hole, “but there’s so many things that have to go right for a state championship to come to fruition. I’m just thrilled for the boys for performing under pressure to achieve that accomplishment.”
For a photo gallery of Gov. Mifflin’s championship game, click here.
Berks’ PIAA baseball champs
| Year | Class | Team | Opponent | ||
| 2024 | 5A | Gov. Mifflin | 2 | Hollidaysburg | 1 |
| 2016 | 4A* | Boyertown | 4 | Plum | 1 |
| 2010 | 3A* | Conrad Weiser | 6 | Hershey | 2 |
| 2009 | 2A | Brandywine Heights | 4 | South Fayette | 1 |
| 1991 | 3A* | Boyertown | 5 | North Allegheny | 4 |
| 1989 | 2A | Oley Valley | 1 | Bellwood Antis | 0 # |
| 1985 | 2A | Oley Valley | 5 | Monaca | 0 |
| 1984 | 2A | Oley Valley | 5 | California | 4 |
| 1983 | 3A* | Reading High | 2 | Beaver Area | 1 |
| 1981 | 3A* | Boyertown | 8 | State College | 2 |
