It’s been just over three weeks since Salisbury’s baseball season ended in the District 11 Class 2A semifinal round. It may have left a sour taste in the Falcons’ mouths at the time, but coming up just a run short of reaching the district championship game seemed nearly impossible during their struggles to open the spring season.

Now, their unquestioned leader who pitched a gem in both of those district games, including a 3-2 win over Minnersville in the quarterfinals, has shifted his focus solely on the next step of his baseball career.

Chad Cooperman, the Falcons’ ace in 2016 and a four-year key varsity player, will continue his baseball career at Bloombsurg University. He’s already started ramping up his training in preparation for that next level where he’ll pitch for the Huskies.

“Right now I’ve been hitting the gym pretty hard,” Cooperman said. “Throughout my whole high school career, I’ve really been preparing for the next level. I always had that in mind. But definitely in the last month or so, I’ve really geared up my training physically and mentally. I’m just trying to get ready for college, and go in there and be an impact player right away.”

He chose Bloomsburg for more than just the school’s baseball team, although the Huskies’ coaching staff is one that Cooperman found appealing from the gate. He’ll also get to major in his top academic choice=.

“When I was looking at colleges, I narrowed it down to three things-academics, athletics and financially the kind of strain it would put on,” said Cooperman, who will major in Supply Chain Management. “Bloom seemed to meet all three of them. I really like Coach [Mike] Collins at Bloomsburg. He’s a great guy, he runs a good program. The school is really good, and it fits me academically and has my major.”

Cooperman is also following in the footsteps of his oldest brother, Casey, who graduated from Bloomsburg in 2014 and was a four-year starter on the Division II circuit. He compiled a 17-13 record with the Warriors with a 3.19 ERA and 158 strikeouts. No season was better than his senior campaign when he went 6-5, posted a 1.67 ERA and 48 strikeouts, and was named a Daktronics Atlantic Region First Team selection.

Following in the path of Casey wasn’t necessarily an end-all selling point for Chad, but it allowed him to get a first-hand look at play in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC).

“Definitely with Casey playing at Bloomsburg, it helped me realize that the Division II level is just as good as some of the smaller Division I conferences,” Cooperman said. “If I went there it would give me an opportunity to play at the next level if I ever reach that ability level.

“I just really like the level of play. I knew I could go in there and have an opportunity to play right away, but at the same time if I improved it would give me a chance to move on in my baseball career as well.”

It also helped his relationship with his future coaching staff and teammates.

“It allowed me to realize what the program is about,” Cooperman said. “It allowed me to get to know the coaches and some of the guys on the team a little bit better. So I guess in that sense it played a role in it, but it wasn’t necessarily a deciding factor.”

Cooperman looked at a number of other PSAC schools like Shippensburg University and Kutztown University, and he received numerous athletic scholarships for baseball from others. He also visited DeSales University, where his other brother Tyler currently pitches, and Immaculata University. But his journey always seemed to come back around to one common place.

“I was kind of leaning towards Bloomsburg for awhile,” Cooperman said. “If I was going to go to a school in [the PSAC] it was probably going to be Bloomsburg.”

Cooperman won eight games this spring with a staggering 1.16 ERA and 106 strikeouts. For his career, he has 15 wins, 183 strikeouts and a 1.41 ERA credited to his name.