HARRISBURG, Pa (WHTM) — An 19-year-old baseball player has died after a makeshift dugout structure collapsed on him in Harrisburg, according to Central Penn College President Linda Fedrizzi-Williams.
The Cumberland County Coroner’s office confirmed the player’s identity as Angel Mercado, saying he died at Holy Spirit Hospital from a traumatic head injury with the manner of death as accidental.
Central Penn College says Mercado played for the school’s baseball team and that counselors are being offered to students and staff.
According to a statement from President Fedrizzia-Williams, they “are mourning the heart-wrenching loss of one of our own, a promising young athlete who senselessly lost his life while helping others enjoy the sport he loved so much.”
The statement also said that the “baseball team said their goodbyes yesterday and expressed their love to their brother.”
According to City of Harrisburg Communications Director Matt Maisel, Mercado was part of the Harrisburg International League baseball league, which consists of older students from multiple area schools who had permission to play on the field, but did not have permission to build the structure.
Around 3 p.m. on Monday, the structure collapsed on Mercado while they were attempting to take it down, leaving him unable to breathe. The team’s coach Gerardo Diaz says he performed CPR on Mercado and that he had woken up after the accident.
Harrisburg officials say they are documenting the scene and will take down the remaining structure.
