Youth Hit by Baseball Declared Brain-Dead

A 17-year-old Glendale athlete who has been on life support since he was struck in the head by a baseball during a game warmup was declared brain-dead Monday, hospital officials said.

Julius Riofrir had massive swelling of the brain from the impact of the baseball, which hit him in the temple after apparently ricocheting off a concrete curb, said Dr. Warren Churg, an internist at Glendale Adventist Hospital.

By Monday afternoon, it was clear that his brain had ceased functioning, Churg said, and family members decided to keep him on life support until arrangements for organ donation could be made.

“He left doing what he loved best, playing baseball,” said Fred Lingad, Riofrir’s summer league coach.

In the last school year, four other Southland high school athletes have died. In April, Craig Kelford III, a Palos Verdes Peninsula High School student, was fatally injured when struck by a flying discus. A week later, Heath Taylor, a pole vaulter at William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, died when he struck his head upon landing after a vault.

In May, baseball player Kriston Palomo was killed when he collided with a baserunner during a game at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance. Eric Hoggatt, a Reseda High School running back, died in his sleep in September after complaining of dizziness after a football game.

Riofrir’s family gathered at the hospital, including his father, Emmanuel Riofrir, mother, Julie Riofrir, sister Janssen, 22 and brothers Joseph, 12, and Jesse, 14.

At a news conference Monday at the hospital, Janssen was the only family member present. She sat stock-still and declined to speak, her face a mask of grief.

Fernando Rios, 18, a recent major league baseball recruit who hit the ball that struck Riofrir, remained “very shook up,” Lingad said.

Rios had just signed a contract with the Cincinnati Reds and has been waiting for assignment to a minor league team.

On Sunday night, while he and Riofrir were warming up for a 6 p.m. American Legion baseball league game at Stengel Field in Glendale, Rios hit a low line drive that glanced off the side of the batting cage and cleared the L-shaped screen that was protecting Riofrir, said Lingad and Glendale police.

The accident happened so quickly that Rios didn’t see where the ball hit, said Sgt. Rick Young, a Glendale police spokesman. But then he saw Riofrir “clutch his head and fall to the ground,” Young said.

Riofrir was not wearing a helmet because he was lobbing soft pitches and the screen is usually considered sufficient protection, Lingad said.

Coaches later surmised that the ball had struck a concrete curb that borders the base of the cage, Lingad said. The curb juts three or four inches above the dirt floor.

“It was just a freak accident. It could have happened with myself or any other team member, anywhere,” Lingad said.

Coaches, teammates, teachers and dozens of classmates visited the hospital Monday to see the popular third baseman, who had just graduated from Glendale High School on Wednesday.

“Julius was a wonderful young man,” said Tony Zarrillo, Riofrir’s high school coach. “He wasn’t the greatest ballplayer ever to set foot on the field, but he was a coach’s dream” because of his dedication and enthusiasm, he said.

Riofrir was planning to attend Glendale Community College.

“Oh my God, it’s just awful,” said his high school counselor, Linda Doll. “He was extremely well-liked by both students and teachers. He was polite, courteous, considerate--all the really nice qualities.”

Riofrir loved baseball, so much so that he tried out for the team three times before finally making junior varsity his junior year, said Zarrillo.

Although he played varsity his senior year, he was never in the starting lineup. In the American Legion game Sunday, he had just learned that he was slated to start for the first time.

The batting cage was installed by the city several years ago for use by the Glendale Community College baseball team, said Nello Iacono, parks director.

The city has received no reports of accidents or complaints about the cage, said city spokesman Rich Wells.

Denny Barrett, head baseball coach at Glendale Community College, said balls often ricochet off the poles or concrete border of the batting cage.

“It happens. Guys get dinged. I’ve been hit in the arm. Some have been hit in the foot,” he said. “You go to any program now, any cage, and you’ll have ricochets. Chuck and duck, we call it.”

Lingad said the team will meet today to decide whether to continue play this season.

“My first impression is that Julius would want us to go on and play,” Lingad said. “But right now playing baseball is the last thing in your mind.”