Former Berks rivals lead Misericordia to national baseball championship
2024 Berks baseball coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
During their high school days Connor Maryniak and Gabe Bunn were rival shortstops as their teams, Gov. Mifflin and Wilson, waged a fierce battle for Berks baseball supremacy.
Thursday they held aloft a championship trophy together as teammates at Misericordia University, which won the NCAA Division III championship by beating Wisconsin-Whitewater 10-5 in the third game of a best-of-three series.
Bunn, a Wilson grad, had a huge finale at the plate, going 4-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored.
Maryniak earned another series-clinching victory, going 7 1/3 innings. The junior right-hander also pitched the clinching games of the Middle Atlantic Conference tournament against Arcadia and at the Super Regional against Christopher Newport.
Another Wilson grad, Rafael Fernandez, is a freshman on the Cougars’ roster.
“Last year (at the College World Series) we got a little taste of it,” Maryniak said at the postgame press conference, “and I thought this year from the beginning it was different. This group’s special.”
The national baseball championship was not only the first for the Cougars but the first for any Division III school in Pennsylvania.
“You always dream about winning a World Series,” said Misericordia coach Pete Egbert, who picked up his 600th win in the clincher. “It’s just so hard to get to the tournament. It’s hard to win our conference and our conference is so good.
“There is part of you that is excited to be at the World Series. We’ve been fortunate to have been at a handful. You talk about it, you talk about it in front of the guys because that is what they want to hear. Realistically I never thought it would be a reality until now.”
Bunn, a junior and Wilson grad, was injured late in the season and didn’t play regularly through the postseason. He got healthy at the right time and had the best game of his career in the clincher.
“To do what he did. . . it’s absolutely unbelievable,” Egbert said. “Comes back from an injury. Wasn’t healthy most of the playoffs. He knew his number was going to get called, he stuck to his preparation, got himself stronger and healthy. He had so many clutch hits and just battled.”
Bunn went 6-for-12 with eight RBIs in the three-game championship series. He was named to the all-tournament team, along with Maryniak and teammates Matt Lanzendorfer, and Max Oliver.
The Warhawks (45-12), who were looking to win their first national title since 2014, blasted five home runs in a 16-10 win that evened the series earlier Thursday.
The Cougars answered that by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first in Game 3, after Maryniak set the Warhawks down in the top half.
“Going out there first, I tried to do whatever I could fire the guys up, especially after dropping Game 1,” Maryniak said. “Coming out, punching them in the mouth quick, is exactly what we needed to do.”
Bunn hit a three-run double in the first to give the Cougars a 5-0 advantage. He singled up the middle to start the third and later scored on an infield error to make it 8-0.
“We sent a statement in the first inning,” Egbert said. “Connor gets three outs without giving up a run and we put up a seven-spot.”
The win settled Maryniak’s record at 11-3. He finished the season with a 2.44 ERA and 76 strikeouts over 82 2/3 innings.
“I just tried to do my job on the mound, limit their lineup, which is really good top to bottom,” Maryniak said. “I tried to do whatever I could to keep us in that game.”
