Long, Swiger step right in for Blazers

Locals make immediate impact in college during freshman seasons

Danny Long ended his freshman year at Monmouth University on a tough note.

During his final at-bat of the season on April 30, the Pennridge grad hurt his hamstring.

The injury kept him out until June 20, missing the first 10 games of the Quakertown Blazers season.

Long, the 2016 Reporter Player of the Year, returned to the game in rhythm. He was hitting .400 after three games, but then went 0-for-4 in Tuesday’s 4-3 win over first-place Allentown at Memorial Park in Quakertown.

Long started at shortstop Tuesday and hit in the No. 7 spot of the batting order.

While the injury wasn’t the ideal way for Long’s freshman season to end, it was still a year to remember.

“As long as I play defense I thought I could stay in the lineup. My at-bats will come along. It’s a work in progress. My freshman year I got some good experience and just move on from there." — Danny Long

He was one of three Hawks to appear in all 37 games and one of two to start every one. He hit .207 with four doubles, a triple, two home runs and 10 RBI.

Long posted a .943 fielding percentage and even got to pitch two innings — both scoreless.

“They emphasize playing defense,” Long said. “As long as I play defense I thought I could stay in the lineup. My at-bats will come along. It’s a work in

progress. My freshman year I got some good experience and just move on from there.

“There’s definitely room to grow,” he added about his performance. “Just take it game-by-game, yearby-year, and see what happens.”

He hopes his time with Quakertown in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League this summer will help him improve at the plate.

“Just get some good atbats,” Long said. “We emphasize quality at-bats at school and I’m just trying to continue that and barrel

balls up and work on my approach and stuff like that so I can be better next year.”

••• Upper Dublin grad Cole Swiger made a similar impact as a freshman at Bloomsburg University.

He played in 46 of the team’s 47 games and started 45 of them. He hit .294 with 10 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 34 RBI.

“I don’t think (it’s normal for freshman to start so much) necessarily,” Swiger said, “but I think it’s normal for anybody who’s going to work very hard in the offseason and earn that spot. There were some openings in our outfield and I tried to take advantage of it as much as I could and it

worked out. I was happy to get out there.”

The 2016 Times Herald Player of the Year started in right field and hit near the bottom of the order for the Huskies.

He plays the same role for first-place Allentown in the ACBL. He went 1-for-2 in Tuesday’s loss with a stolen base and a run scored out of the No. 7 spot. He reached two other times when he worked a walk and got hit by a pitch.

Overall, he’s hitting .263 in 12 games this season. He’s got two doubles, one home run and six RBI.

“I’ve been the guy in the middle of the lineup,” Swiger said of his role. “I look to do damage when there are guys on base, doing

whatever the situation calls for. My main goal is to get on base and do what I can on the base paths and get home and score, put up runs and play solid defense out in right.”

One thing he wants to work on is limiting his strikeouts during the summer. He struck out 44 times for the Huskies in the spring.

“I definitely want to cut down on my strikeouts really and have more patience at the plate coming from school ball,” Swiger said. “The pitching is a lot more serious and there’s going to be guys throwing strikes, a lot of pitching depth every team. I just want to stay patient at the plate and look for my pitch.”