A truly Grim experience turns into a joyful memory for Gov. Mifflin
2024 Berks baseball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Mick Reinhard — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
STATE COLLEGE — Ethan Grim and his Gov. Mifflin teammates had been here before.
Maybe not with the stakes as large as Friday’s PIAA Class 5A Championship game, but the junior right-hander had taken the mound in both the Berks and District 3 title matchups. Neither of those games turned out how anyone in maroon and gold envisioned.
A 10-3 loss to rival Wilson and a 6-1 defeat at the hands of defending champion Mechanicsburg left Grim and his teammates without any postseason trophies and with a bad taste in the pitcher’s mouth.
Grim had a chance for redemption at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, tabbed with the starting assignment in the biggest game of his career.
He didn’t disappoint, firing six innings of two-hit ball while striking out 11 to lead Mifflin to a 2-1 victory over Hollidaysburg to claim its first PIAA Championship in program history.]
“I had total confidence in Ethan,” Mustangs coach Chris Hole said. “I knew he was going to shove tonight. He’s a true No. 1. I knew we would get every ounce of effort out of him, and we did. What a phenomenal effort. That young man has a bright future.”
Given the scenario and adrenaline rush, Grim came out pumping heat from the start. He needed only 13 pitches to carve up Hollidaysburg’s first three batters, striking out the side. He allowed the Golden Tigers’ first base hit in the second inning but worked around it with another strikeout.
Hollidaysburg scored its lone run in the third as a leadoff walk to Bradey Michaels returned to bite Grim. After moving up 90 feet on a sacrifice bunt, Michaels scored when Jake Hileman singled off the glove of a diving Bryce Detwiler. It was the last hit the Golden Tigers would record off the right-hander.
“He doesn’t let things get to him that easily,” said Mifflin junior Travis Jenkins, who has been catching Grim since their Little League days. “It’s nice knowing you have a pitcher come out and grind even if he doesn’t have his best stuff. He’s still going to give it his all.”
Grim’s teammates countered with a run to even the score up at 1-1 in the bottom half of the inning. In their next at-bat the Mustangs took the lead for good as Bryce Wunderlich delivered the two-out, two-strike RBI single up the middle.
Grim, seemingly buoyed by the response, struck out the side in the fifth inning as the Hollidaysburg lineup turned over, giving the best Golden Tiger batters one last chance.
Clinging to the one-run advantage and a climbing pitch count, Grim issued another leadoff walk in the sixth, setting up a showdown with Hollidaysburg power hitter Carson Kensinger. With seven home runs this season, the Frostburg State commit can quickly change a game’s complexion with one swing.
He didn’t. Grim composed himself and stuck to the game plan against Kensinger that had worked his previous two plate appearances. He spotted fastballs low and in, eventually winning the battle by getting Kensinger to fly out to right field.
“It was really important,” Jenkins said of the at-bat. “We watched a little bit of film on him. He can hammer the ball inside against 83-84, so challenging him with 90 miles per hour all night, he was getting jammed. We kept going back to it.”
Grim notched a strikeout with his 110th and final pitch, a curveball to end the sixth inning. After hitting the PIAA pitch count limit he turned it over to Bryce Detwiler, who struck out the side – earning a save and giving Mifflin’s power pitching tandem 14 strikeouts over seven innings.
Grim’s strikeout total was one short of his career high, set in a complete-game, 3-0 victory over Palmrya in districts. He ends the season with a Berks-leading 113 strikeouts over 71 1/3 innings, and with an 8-3 record and 1.76 ERA.
Grim already has offers from several Division I programs, including Penn State and Pitt. This performance, on such a big stage, will open the door for offers from ACC and SEC programs.
Grim lost twice in championship games, to Wilson and Mechanicsburg, but those defeats helped prepare him and his teammates for the road ahead.
“I think we were looser (tonight),” Hole said of losses in the previous two title games, “and being able to use that as motivation to know that we truly have not won anything. We had something bigger to play for.
“You win that first state game, which was a breakthrough for our program, and things get really exciting. Here we are tonight, walking away with the state championship.”
The Mustangs have won more Berks County baseball titles than any other program but success beyond that level had been difficult to achieve. They have never won a district championship and before beating Frankford in the opening round had never won a PIAA Tournament game.
“We wanted to make history,” Grim said, clutching the trophy.
