2 college baseball players whose team just won championship killed in head-on crash in Georgia
Two LaGrange College baseball players whose team had just won a conference tournament championship were among three people killed in a head-on crash in west Georgia, authorities said.
Jacob Brown, 19, of Duluth, Georgia, and Stephen Bartolotta, 18, of Palm City, Florida, died in the crash on Saturday, the college said in a statement. The wreck happened hours after LaGrange won a fifth straight USA South Tournament title with a 10-7 victory over North Carolina Wesleyan University.
LaGrange College President Susanna Baxter said the deaths of Brown and Bartolotta, who both were freshman pitchers, hit members of the baseball team particularly hard.
"Coming on the heels of the team's conference championship win yesterday, this news hits our baseball players especially hard," she said in a statement. "There simply are no words."
The two were in a vehicle that collided with another vehicle driven by Rico Dunn, 25, who also was killed, WGCL-TV reported. The wreck occurred in Troup County on Georgia 109 when one of the vehicles was attempting to pass, state troopers said.
Dunn's brother Nicholos Legon told WAGA-TV the crash happened shortly after the family had been celebrating their sister's 28th birthday.
"Rico was a very, very, very, very loving, like you just don't understand how loving a young man and he really, really, really enjoyed spending time with the kids, all his nieces and nephews, taking them out fishing and just showing them nature and loving life," Legon told the station.
