In a lineup as talented as Amherst’s is in 2026, it is hard for any one player to stand out. But that is exactly what Cooper Bingham has done.
The junior is in his second season as the starting shortstop, and had a strong debut varsity campaign last year, being named first-team Southwestern Conference and Lorain County Honorable Mention after slashing .365/.491/.471 with 30 runs and 20 RBI.
This year, however, he has operated at a different level, slashing .531/.674/1.000 in 12 games, with 17 hits, four doubles, a triple, three home runs, 19 RBI, and 25 runs scored.
“I’ve been seeing the ball well,” Bingham said. “In the offseason, we had a lot of live at-bats, so that helped a lot. And the guys just come back to the dugout and tell me what the pitcher looks like, and that helps a lot as well.”
While Bingham has done plenty of damage swinging the bat, perhaps even more impressive has been his plate discipline, with 13 walks this season compared to just five strikeouts.
“The big thing that I’ve noticed right now that’s separating him is that his plate discipline is tremendous,” said Amherst coach Matt Rositano. “He’s not chasing pitches, he’s waiting to get stuff in his zone. He’s not getting a whole lot of pitches to hit, but when he does, he’s taken advantage.”
With the talent that surrounds Bingham in the Comets’ lineup, namely seniors Landon Wolf and Harrison Schneider, who hit right behind him, simply getting on base is often the best thing that Bingham can do.
“I’ve just got to do my job,” Bingham said. “I know that those guys are going to do their job, and even if I don’t they’re right behind me to pick me up.”
“What I told Cooper was, ‘If we’re going to move you up to the three-hole, we don’t need you to hit for power,’” Rositano said. “We just needed him to get on base a lot, Landon and Harrison can drive him in, but he’s taking everything on his back right now.”
A big part of the reason Bingham has been able to do that goes back to the work that the Comets did in the offseason, which was mainly focused on getting bigger, stronger, faster, and in better shape.
That work shows. The Comets have hit 11 home runs as a team this season, and six players have left the yard, with four of them hitting multiple home runs.
“One of the biggest things was just getting bigger and stronger,” Bingham said. “Because Coach told me I was moving to the three-hole, and I knew that’s obviously a pretty good spot for extra-base hits. So I put some muscle on, and that helps with the swing, too.”
“All the guys really busted their butts in the offseason in the weight room,” Rositano said. “And Cooper was one of the big catalysts of that group that really worked hard in the offseason and put himself in a position to have the success he’s having right now.”
In a lineup that features four hitters who were named to an All-Ohio team in 2025, all of whom are committed to play college baseball, the junior Bingham who as emerged as the Comets best hitter this season, leading the team in hits, extra-base hits, home runs, RBI, runs, walks, and stolen bases, as well as batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, and OPS among players with at least 25 plate appearances.
“I tell the guys all the time that I don’t care what grade they’re in,” Rositano said. “The best players are going to play.”
Both Bingham and Rositano know, however, that statistics, no matter how impressive they are, are secondary to Amherst’s main goal this season, winning a state championship, and the Comets have put as much work into building their team chemistry as they have into improving their swings.
“The offseason was mostly about getting closer to the guys,” Bingham said. “The new guys especially, we wanted to get them comfortable with this team, and I just want to give my team the best ability to win games this year.”
“One thing that you look for as a coach is whether we are playing for each other or just stat chasing,” Rositano said. “All this team cares about is winning. They don’t care who has the spotlight for a certain game, or a certain week, they just want everyone to succeed, because when everyone succeeds, the team wins games.”
Amherst has done plenty of winning, starting 11-1 this season and earning the No. 1 spot in the Division II coaches poll in all four editions so far, and for the first month of the season at least, Bingham has been at the center of it all.