Burrell grad Zach Miller plays role perfectly in helping IUP baseball team reach World Series

IUP baseball coach Steve Kline remembers the encounter with Zach Miller well.

Kline was entering his second year as the Crimson Hawks’ baseball coach, and Miller approached him in an on-campus parking lot. Miller, a Burrell grad, spent his initial college days at Cal (Pa.) but never took the field for the Vulcans, instead taking a redshirt and spending the year watching.

In 2022, he was not on a collegiate baseball roster.

Miller, though, wasn’t about to give up on baseball, so he asked Kline if he could try out.

Kline figured he had nothing to lose by taking a look at Miller. The former major-league pitcher was trying to build his program, so if Miller turned out to be someone who could help, it would be a bonus.

“We gave him a shot, and he’s been stellar for us,” Kline said.

While not often a starter, Miller carved his niche for the Crimson Hawks, playing first base and outfield — often as a defensive substitute late in games — and using his speed on the basepaths. This spring, he contributed to IUP’s breakout season.

The team’s list of accomplishment’s was long and kept getting better as it grew. IUP …

• surpassed 30 wins for the first time in 14 years.

• finished second in the PSAC West, its best finish in 14 years.

• made consecutive appearances in the conference tournament for the first time since the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

• received an at-large selection to the NCAA Atlantic Regional, the program’s first NCAA berth in 34 years.

• earned its first NCAA victory since 1988 (a win over Charleston in the regional).

• went unbeaten in the regional to advance to its first Super Regional.

• defeated PSAC West rival Seton Hill to win the Super Regional and qualify for the program’s first Division II College World Series.

• earned its first College World Series win by upsetting top-ranked and No. 1 seed Central Missouri.

And IUP wasn’t finished. They won two more games to get within a win of the national final. In the second of those wins, Miller, playing his usual late-sub role, brought home a run with a safety squeeze bunt in the eighth inning as the Crimson Hawks defeated Angelo State, 10-8.

IUP came up short of reaching the final, losing to Angelo State, 7-3, on Friday. But Miller made a curtain call.

Coming on as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning, with the Crimson Hawks down 7-1, Miller hit a two-run homer.

“It has been amazing,” Miller said from Cary, N.C., site of the World Series. “It’s a tight-knit group, probably the closest team I have ever been a part of. Everyone just loves playing for each other.

“There have been some pretty big games that we have played in this year, and we’re pretty cool, calm and collected. We’ve pretty much experienced it all this year.”

Through IUP’s victory over Central Missouri, Miller had appeared in 38 games (15 starts). He contributed a .283 batting average (17 for 60) with 16 runs and a perfect mark on stolen bases (6 for 6).

Though his plate appearances are not plentiful, Miller has been remarkably consistent when asked to hit. He hit .292 last season, making his career mark at IUP .288 (36 for 125).

And his 2024 spring was not without some highlights. He had three three-hit games in a four-game span in late March, five times he scored two runs in a game and he had a pair of RBIs against Clarion on March 28.

To say nothing of his season-ending homer.

“I don’t mind him swinging the stick at all,” Kline said. “He can still hit the ball pretty well. … When it’s time to run or do something crazy, we bring Zach in.”

Junior Brady Yard has seen the bulk of the time at first base, with Kline wanting to get his big bat (.311, 4 HRs, 37 RBIs) in the lineup. Miller often came in during the eighth or ninth inning when the Crimson Hawks were trying to protect a lead, and he delivered with his sure glove, handling all 108 of his chances cleanly, in addition to adding five assists and being part of seven double plays.

Kline calls Miller “one of our better fielders.”

Miller admitted it isn’t always easy to come in cold off the bench. He said he would start getting loose in the sixth or seventh inning in case his name was called.

His approach is emblematic of how he said the team operates.

“Everyone is playing for each other,” said Miller, who scored a run in the Super Regional clincher against Seton Hill. “There’s no one playing for stats. No one wants to pad their stats. Whatever you can do to help the team win.”

Miller’s contributions have not gone unnoticed by his teammates.

“We all love Zach,” said sophomore Elijah Dunn, a Norwin grad. “He’s just a positive dude. … The amount of pure enjoyment he brings to the team is awesome.”

Though athletically, Miller is only a junior and eligible to return for one more season, he will be hanging up his cleats. He already has completed his degree in criminology — and received an additional honor May 31 when he was a recipient of the NCAA’s Elite 90 award for academics — and plans to enter the police academy.

It’s an extension of the “family business,” as his father, Scott, is a police officer in their hometown of Lower Burrell. In truth, Miller said, he never thought about doing anything else.

He is going to help coach a couple of local youth teams over the summer and said he would like to continue coaching in the future. As for his playing days, he couldn’t think of a better way to end them, and he is satisfied in knowing he was among those who helped to lay a foundation for the future of the IUP baseball program.

And he can walk away with the satisfaction that he closed his career with a home run.

“Every year, it’s like another stepping stone,” he said. “I think it gives a lot of hope to future players. You don’t have to be the best recruit. If you get a group of guys who play well together and play for each other, you can accomplish anything.”