Pennsylvania baseball player fatally struck in the face while dismantling unapproved dugout

Central Penn College baseball player Angel Mercado poses for a portrait on Baseball Media Day in January, 2023, in Summerdale, Pa. Mercado, 19, an aspiring middle infielder who had just completed his freshman season at Division II Central Penn College, died accidentally when a makeshift dugout collapsed playing in a summer recreation league that held its games and practices in a park in Harrisburg. (Central Penn College via AP)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A coroner in Pennsylvania ruled that a college baseball player died accidentally when a makeshift dugout collapsed and he was struck in the face. Nineteen-year-old Angel Mercado was a middle infielder who had just completed his freshman season at Division II Central Penn College. He had been playing in a summer recreation league that held its games and practices in a park in Harrisburg. Mercado’s coach had built a makeshift dugout there out of wood on Sunday, but city officials told him it wasn’t allowed. The players were dismantling the structure Monday when it unexpectedly collapsed. Mercado died at a hospital the next day.


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