Question: What do Marietta College baseball pitcher Scott Dunn and Steelers tight end Heath Miller have in common?

Answer: Both won important championships their rookie seasons.

Dunn, a South Side Beaver graduate, played a key role as a freshman relief pitcher for Marietta (43-11), which won the NCAA Division III baseball championship, May 30.

A 5-foot-10, 180-pound right-hander, Dunn finished with a 3-2 record, a 2.95 ERA and a team-high four saves. He made 16 pitching appearances (42²/₃ innings), which tied for fourth most on the team.

Dunn made one appearance at the eight-team World Series in Grand Chute, Wis., tossing two scoreless innings in a 10-4 win over Chapman University (Calif.) on May 28.

When the final out was recorded in a 7-2 win over Wheaton (Mass.) College two days later in the national championship game, Marietta players leaped on one another to form a huge dog pile.

"I'll never lose that memory," said Dunn, 18, a Hanover Township resident.

Dunn did not have championship memories at South Side Beaver, which finished 5-7 in section play his senior year.

He came to Marietta, a perennial power in Division III baseball, without a big reputation and probably not expecting to see a ton of action as a freshman.

"It kind of just evolved," said Dunn.

One of the reasons it evolved, according to Dunn, was that under the supervision of Marietta pitching coach Tyler Mott he was able to "develop a really good changeup and locate my curve a lot better."

Marietta actually finished second in the regular-season standings and at the Ohio Athletic Conference playoffs to Otterbein. But, the Pioneers got an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, then got hot at the right time, winning the seven-team Mideast Regional in Terre Haute, Ind. (May 17-20) before capturing the World Series.

It was the school's fourth national title, having previously captured crowns in 1981, 1983 and 1986.

A couple days after winning the national championship and returning from a 12-hour bus ride, Dunn was in the office of Marietta head coach Brian Brewer getting his end-of-the-season evaluation.

"He [the coach] told me I'd have about the same role next year, maybe a little more innings," said Dunn, who throws his fastball at about 85-86 mph.

Brewer said Dunn has "great makeup for the bullpen."

This summer, Dunn is playing for the Hopewell American Legion team as a pitcher/third baseman.

Chances are there won't be 2,000 fans in Hopewell watching him perform like there was at the Division III World Series, an experience Dunn called "exhilarating. It was by far the most fans I'd played in front of."

Dunn will eventually get a ring for being on a national championship team. And he'll always have very pleasant memories of his first college baseball season.