(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series of articles the Times News will be running on former area athletes who are currently seniors in college and have had their spring sports seasons canceled by the coronavirus threat.)

By PATRICK MATSINKO

pmatsinko@tnonline.com

The text to Dante Salerno went through at 10:57 a.m.

His response came shortly thereafter.

It read in part, “I’m free all day.”

It was supposed to be gameday, and Salerno should have been a few hours away from taking the field.

Instead, the Penn State Berks senior was in his off-campus apartment with plenty of time on his hands.

Salerno’s availability wasn’t by design. He would much rather have been getting ready for the Lions’ originally scheduled game at Immaculata University - with the first pitch set for 3:30 p.m.

But Salerno was focused on completing online coursework, something that has become the new normal since all classes and the remainder of his baseball season were abruptly canceled due to growing concerns over the spread of coronavirus.

“The hardest part of it, honestly, has been the classes,” Salerno said of the adjustment. “I’ve only had a couple of online classes throughout college, and they were all for my general education courses … now as a senior, taking my higher-level business classes, I’m now doing them online, and it’s just a little different.”

It’s certainly not the only thing that’s changed for the Marian High School graduate and financial services major.

Salerno was off to a torrid start to the 2020 season, hitting .515 (17-for-33) through nine games played. His 17 hits and eight runs scored led the team, as did his five stolen bases and two triples. He had 10 RBIs, which ranked second on the squad.

“From a baseball standpoint, I went from seeing all my friends every single day and getting ready to go to practice, to now talking to them on the phone, playing video games with them, and that’s it,” said Salerno. “Luckily for me, I live with three other baseball players, plus I have four that live right across from me, and two more that live right next door.”

Salerno, the 2015 Times News Baseball Player of the Year as a junior when he hit .478 and helped the Colts claim the Schuylkill League Division 3 crown, watched as professional sports leagues halted their seasons, knowing it was likely only a matter of time before his suffered the same fate.

“So, when we found out about all of this we were in our hotel rooms, I think it was right after Rudy Gobert (of the Utah Jazz) tested positive and they stopped the NBA season,” Salerno said of the news that shook the sports world last Wednesday. “The way our rooms were setup, it’s the seniors in one room, and right next to us were the coaches. So the coaches came over and talked to us and said it wasn’t looking good and that there was a good chance our season would end.

“We knew that our next game could very well be the last game we played. We didn’t think it was going to happen when we were down there, absolutely not. But we knew there was a very good chance … we knew there was a very good chance we weren’t playing our game against Immaculata.”

His final game with Penn State Berks came last Thursday in a doubleheader against Albertus Magnus, where he went 2-for-4 with a triple in the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

“Looking back at it, that was probably one of the most fun games I’ve ever had playing,” Salerno said. “Just knowing that it could have been our last game and we all played like it, there was nothing to look back on and say, ‘I could have done something different.’”

In his three-year career at Division 3 PSU Berks, Salerno hit .408 over 83 games played (78 starts, 267 at bats) with 109 hits, 86 runs scored, 58 RBIs, 41 stolen bases, 12 doubles, 11 triples, 40 walks and a .547 slugging percentage.

Salerno spent his freshman year at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, a Division 2 program, where he started 20 games in 2017.

Penn State Berks is a member of the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC), which canceled all conference contests for the remainder of the year last Friday.

“The way it all unfolded, it actually kind of made it easier,” said Salerno, who noted he will likely make his first trip home this weekend, something he waited to do as a precaution in the event he was exposed to the virus. “The NBA thing happened, and in our minds we kind of already knew it was happening. The more things played out, the more reality started to set it.

“And we saw on social media that the NCAA closed all the spring championships. I think just getting information in bits and pieces, did kind of make it easier, as opposed to having it just happen out of nowhere that everything was done.”

While the NCAA is planning to extend the eligibility of athletes on spring sports teams by one year to make up for the season lost to the coronavirus, Salerno acknowledged that he’s unsure what his future holds.

“When it originally happened, I said, that’s it, I’m done,” Salerno recalled. “But the more it goes on, I want to see how the details play out, I’m thinking about using it. I’m not sure.”

And now more than ever, Salerno knows time – like his playing days – can be fleeting.

“The four years really do go fast, and when they get cut short it goes even faster,” he said. “But it just gives you more insight to appreciate every game you have, every at bat you have, all the times you have with your friends. It can come to an end and you don’t even know it. You just have to have fun and enjoy it all.”