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Misericordia baseball knocked out a six-time national champion this week. Next week, the Cougars will play for a national title of their own.
The Cougars left no doubt on Saturday, defeating host Marietta 6-2 to sweep the best-of-3 Super Regional and clinch a spot in the NCAA Division III College World Series.
Misericordia will be one of eight teams competing for the national championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when the World Series opens on Friday.
The Cougars are playing as well as anyone in the country and have now won four straight games against nationally ranked teams to earn the program’s second-ever invitation to the World Series.
Last Sunday the Cougars beat favored Salve Regina twice in a doubleheader to win the four-team Regional tournament hosted at Misericordia’s campus. They then traveled to Ohio and won 8-3 on Friday and 6-2 on Saturday to eliminate the Pioneers, who have won a record six Division III national titles in baseball.
Misericordia controlled Saturday’s contest from the start, taking the lead in the first inning and holding the Pioneers off the board until the ninth.
It was another strong pitching performance as Max Oliver didn’t allow a hit through three innings before Tyler Leonard took over and scattered nine hits over the final six frames for the win, striking out four without a walk.
Garrett McIlhenney went 3-for-3 with a triple and an RBI to extend his on-base streak to 52 games. Joe Comins finished a triple short of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Connor Maryniak (2-for-4, RBI) also homered in the win.
Derrick Vosburg’s RBI single in the first inning gave the Cougars a win they wouldn’t relinquish. McIlhenney singled home a run in the second before Misericordia, one of the country’s best teams on the basepaths, pulled off a double steal that had Jack Regenye swiping home for a 3-0 advantage.
Comins and Maryniak both hit solo shots in the fifth to push the lead to 5-0. Brady Madden brought home a sixth run in the sixth inning with a single.
Marietta narrowly avoided a shutout to end the season by getting back-to-back RBI singles in the ninth. But the Pioneers weren’t able to bring the tying run to the plate as Leonard got a fly out to center to end the game.
Misericordia enters the World Series 39-13 and will set a school record for wins in a season with one more victory.
TRACK AND FIELD
The Cougars earned some more accolades on the national stage this week at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, highlighted by Alexandra Snyder’s silver medal victory in the javelin on Thursday in Rochester, N.Y.
On Saturday, it was Misericordia’s Brenna Karnish competing in the hammer throw, where she finished 11th with a throw of 52.78 meters.