HAZLE TWP. — For Dom Marino, a dream several years in the making recently came true.
The Hazleton Area senior baseball standout signed his letter of intent to continue his academic and athletic careers at the University of Pittsburgh.
“Great atmosphere, the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference), a great coach (in Mike Bell who’s) spent a lot of time coaching, great players, I’m going to play against great competition …everything. … I’m ready for it,” Marino said, giving a litany of reasons why he chose Pitt over other NCAA Division I offers.
Marino, of Freeland, will join former Cougar teammate Antonio Doganiero and recent Tamaqua graduate Mason Ligenza on the Panthers’ roster. Doganiero, of Conyngham, is entering his second season as a pitcher at Pitt and Brockton’s Ligenza enrolled this fall, even after the World Series-champion Los Angeles Dodgers picked him in the sixth round of the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft.
Former local pitching stars Gregg Mrochko and Kyle Landis also pitched at PItt in the mid 1990s and early 2000s, respectively.
The Panthers, who finished 28-27 overall and 10-20 in the ACC, recruited Marino as both a position player and pitcher.
An injury probably will keep Marino from pitching as a high school senior. But he will be able to lend his potent bat to a Hazleton Area team seeking its eighth District 2 Class 4A championship and seventh consecutive District 2-4 title and state tournament appearance under head coach Russ Canzler.
Marino has had his fingerprints all over the Cougars’ most recent run of success. He has started since his freshman year, though he didn’t come into his own as a pitcher until later in his sophomore season.
The strong-armed right-hander went 3-0 in 10 pitching appearances as a junior, including nine starts. He finished with a 2.72 earned run average, allowing only 14 earned runs all season, struck out 47 batters and walked 31. He was dominant in the Cougars’ 10-0 win over Wilkes-Barre Area in the subregional final.
“I’m super proud of Dom,” Canzler said after that game. “There’s a reason why there’s a lot of buzz about him and why he’s going to play in the ACC. When he’s on like that and he’s confident, his stuff is second to none for a high school pitcher.
“You could just see when he’s on. To be a great leader for us ands take the ball in a big game like that and show his stuff was awesome to watch. …It just seemed liek he got more and more confident as the game went on.”
At the plate, Marino batted .328 last season with a .463 on-base percentage and a .516 slugging percentage, the latter thanks to his two doubles, two triples and two home runs. He also knocked in 14 runs and scored another 15.
Marino said his recruiting process was both exciting and stressful, but he was prepared to make his college decision when that time came.
That time is now.
“This is everything,” Marino said. “It’s been the goal of mine since I was like 13 years old. …I got it done, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”
Meanwhile, Marino’s teammate Chris Peters recently decided to ink his own letter of intent to attend Division I-Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The hard-throwing right-hander bounced back from injury-plagued freshman and sophomore seasons to become one of the Cougars’ most reliable pitchers in 2025, especially out of the bullpen.
In 12 mound appearances, including two starts, Peters finished 4-0 with 3.54 ERA, 32 strikeouts and 14 walks over 27.2 innings.
“He didn’t get a ton of innings before last year because he was fighting back from injuries,” Canzler said ahed of the 2025 campaign. “But when you look at Chris, and he checks a ton of boxes physically. He’s a 6-3 kid or bigger — he’s very physical. It looks like a very uncomfortable at-bat against him. His fastball gets on you quickly. He’s got good off-speed stuff: breaking ball, splitter (split-finger fastball). … It was matter of him commanding the strike zone.”
With Marino unavailable to pitch against North Penn in the PIAA Class 6A quarterfinals, Peters got the starting assignment in a nod to Canzler’s confidence in him.
The Butler Twp. resident will be back as a senior, looking to build on his first full season as a Cougar.
Afterward, he will take off for LIU to join a Sharks team that was 35-23 last season and lost 6-5 to Central Connecticut State in the NEC (Northeast Conference) championship game.
Peters is the younger brother of former Cougar star pitcher Kyle Peters, a pitching ace on dynamite Hazleton Area teams in both 2021 and 2022. Kyle sat out the 2023 season with an injury. He’s now pitching at the University of Connecticut.