Baseball | 5/14/2020 1:18:00 PM
BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - Senior righthander
Chad Cooperman (Allentown, Pa./Salisbury) and senior outfielder
Cole Swiger (Maple Glen, Pa./Upper Dublin) of the Bloomsburg University baseball team have been named to the 2020 Academic All-District® First Team as announced, and selected, by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). It marks the second consecutive season that both Cooperman and Swiger earned the accolade.
Based on the absence of most spring sports competition, the CoSIDA Academic All-America Committee revised some rules and procedures for nominating student-athletes this season. Due to the low percentage of games completed this spring, the nominees were selected based on career statistics and achievements.
Cooperman entered the 2020 campaign as a preseason All-American as announced by Collegiate Baseball News. The righthander was off to a 2-0 start to the 2020 season, posting a 3.71 earned run average (ERA) with 22 strikeouts in 17 innings, before the year came to an abrupt halt. He was also 7-of-15 (.467) with four runs batted in at the plate.
All told, the senior righthander earned All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division honors as a pitcher in 2019 and was an All-PSAC East Second Team recipient as a utility in 2018. Cooperman also claimed American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings Second Team All-Region honoree in 2019. In the 2019 season, Cooperman finished in the top ten among PSAC starts in victories (7), ERA (3.07), strikeouts (78), and opponents' batting average (.204). His strikeout total was the fourth-highest single-season mark in program history.
He sports an 11-12 record on the mound with a 4.18 ERA and 193 strikeouts in 174.1 innings of work. He is five punchouts shy of breaking the school record established by
Ashton Raines (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven), who graduated following the 2019 season. At the plate, Cooperman is a lifetime .295 hitter with 65 hits and 46 runs batted in throughout his career.
In the classroom, Cooperman sports a 3.62 cumulative grade point average while majoring in supply chain management. He is a three-time D2 ADA scholar-athlete and a three-time PSAC scholar-athlete.
Swiger, meanwhile, will go down as one of Bloomsburg's best all-around players - statistically - in program history. He was off to a strong start in 2020 by going 10-of-31 (.323) with a team-high ten runs scored through the first ten games. He also was tied for the team lead in home runs (2) and was second in runs batted in (9).
The senior outfielder earned All-PSAC East Second Team honors in 2018 after batting a career-best .339 while also posting career-highs in runs scored (50), hits (62), and doubles (18). In 2019, Swiger established new career-highs in home runs (8) and runs batted in (47). All told, Swiger is a .306 lifetime hitter with 162 hits in 529 at-bats. He ranks fifth all-time in runs scored (127) and home runs (21), seventh all-time in doubles (40), ninth all-time in stolen bases (37), and tenth all-time in RBI (122).
Majoring in finance, Swiger boasts a cumulative grade point average of 3.53 and, like Cooperman, has been a three-time D2 ADA scholar-athlete and a three-time PSAC scholar-athlete.
The Academic All-District® Baseball Team, selected by CoSIDA, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The Academic All-America® program separately recognizes baseball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NAIA.
The First Team Academic All-District® honorees now advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® ballot. Academic All-America® honorees will be announced in June.
