Kyle Milligan 
Cooper Danskin and the Lansingburgh Knights are ready to kick off the baseball season during an unpredictable and rocky school year due to COVID and budget issues.
Lansingburgh High School is one of the last schools in the Capital Region to allow students to return to school and sports to be played, which finally happened on March 1. During the course of the school year, parents and students became growingly frustrated with the schools’ previous ideas of no in-person classes or sports at all.
The Knights currently have football and soccer going on and will add more sports during the spring season including baseball. Danskin and his teammates are staying ready as they await tryouts scheduled at the end of April. “We all just got to be ready for that call and once it comes we’re going to go out there and do what we can,” said Danskin.
The Knights baseball team will start their offseason program very shortly, although in a normal season it would be considered very late. Despite in-person school starting almost seven months late, Danskin and his teammates have been working hard to stay game-ready. “Working out as much as I can and practicing my craft while preparing my teammates as well.”
Danskin and the Knights feel as if they have something to prove this year even though they are at a slight disadvantage starting their offseason program much later than most Colonial Council teams. “Being on top would be super important to show that Lansingburgh has still got it,” said Danskin.
The Colonial Council is currently planning on moving forward with some type of playoff after the softball and baseball regular seasons are concluded. What that may look like is yet to be told. Keep in mind the Colonial Council did not choose to have a playoff for basketball this year.
Dating back to the last high school baseball season that was played in 2019, Danskin was a Second Team Colonial Council All-Star. His ability to hit for average and power was shown off in his sophomore year campaign, and he plans to continue his individual success this year. A goal he has in mind for himself is to make the first team this year for catchers.
His approach at the plate is to keep things as simple as possible, hit the ball to wherever it was pitched from meaning whichever side of the plate the ball is on, he’s going to try and hit the ball back in that same direction. A strategy good for hitting for average and his natural power can lift some of those out of the yard as well.
Danskin is committed to Bryant & Stratton College the Albany campus to play baseball. Not only is Danskin excited to play at the next level, but he’s thrilled about the competition level and trips that come along with playing college baseball. “It’s the best baseball that I could have played.”
Danskin has trained for his senior year season at Upstate Sports Academy which he believes has prepared him and kept him ‘game ready’ for the 2021 season. And he expects the Knights to be a serious contender when all is said and done. As he said multiple times to me that the goal is to come out on top.
It’s time to get excited as the spring sports seasons were the first to be affected by COVID-19 in 2020. This time around, if all goes well, Section 2 spring sports will be back in action!
Justin Maxon 
David Payne 
Jimmy Miller 
