Teen baseball player dies after dugout collapses on him in Pennsylvania park

A 19-year-old college baseball player was killed when a dugout collapsed on him while he was volunteering at a Pennsylvania park, his school said in a Wednesday letter to students.

Angel Mercado and several others were working on a wooden dugout in a Harrisburg park on Monday when the structure collapsed, according to Central Penn College.

“As friends who have become family, we 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,” Central Penn President Linda Fedrizzi-Williams wrote. “No words can adequately express our anguish.”

Mercado was an entrepreneurship and small business student, according to the college. He was also a member of the college’s men’s baseball team. Central Penn head baseball coach Robert Stern described Mercado as “fun-spirited” on a GoFundMe page set up to assist with funeral and medical expenses.

“He was a promising young athlete who devastatingly lost his life while helping others enjoy the sport he loved so much,” Stern said. 

Mercado grew up in Harrisburg, according to his player profile, where Mayor Wanda Williams told CBS affiliate WHP-TV in a statement that the city was devastated by Mercado’s death. 

“He died helping others around the sport he loved. It’s heart-wrenching,” Williams said. “Angel embraced so many people and now we need to embrace his memory.”