Boy Hit by Baseball Declared Brain-Dead

A 17-year-old Glendale boy, who was hit in the head by a baseball during practice, was pronounced brain-dead Monday, a hospital official said.

Julius Riofrir, who graduated last Wednesday from Glendale High School, was knocked unconscious Sunday in a batter’s cage at Stengel Field in Verdugo Park, said Glendale Police Sgt. Rick Young.

Riofrir, whose heart stopped twice before he was declared brain-dead, remained on life support systems late Monday at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, as his family considered whether to permit harvesting of his organs, said hospital spokesman Steve Willis.

Riofrir was throwing pitches to a teammate Sunday afternoon in the 80-foot practice area, warming up for an American Legion Baseball League game.

“The batter hit his pitched ball--a line drive--low and hard,” Young said. “It hit a concrete curbing along the batting cage and ricocheted toward the victim, hitting him in the temple.”

Riofrir was standing behind a screen, but the batted ball somehow slipped past or went through the protective netting and knocked him unconscious, police said. He suffered a fractured skull and swelling of the brain.

The accident was the latest in a series of tragedies involving young Southland athletes in recent months.

In April, Craig Kelford III, a Palos Verdes Peninsula High School student, died after being hit by a flying discus.

A week after that, Heath Taylor, a pole vaulter at William S. Hart High School in Newhall, was killed when he hit his head during a landing.

In early May, baseball star Kriston Palomo was killed when he collided with a batter during a game at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance.