College baseball players among those killed in crash after title win, GA officials say
Two college baseball players and a 24-year-old were killed in a crash in Georgia on Saturday, May 14, officials said.
The two LaGrange College players, 18-year-old Stephen Bartolotta and 19-year-old Jacob Brown, were returning from a celebration with their team, which had just won a conference championship, when Brown, who was driving, tried to pass another vehicle, the Troup County coroner’s office told WTVM.
Their vehicle then collided with a pickup truck driven by the 24-year-old, identified as Rico Dunn, officials told WRBL.
Brown and Bartolotta were pronounced dead at the scene, officials told The LaGrange Daily News. Dunn was airlifted to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, the outlet reported.
Brown and Bartolotta were both freshman pitchers at LaGrange College, according to the school.
Brown was the game’s winning pitcher, according to the school’s website.
“Coming on the heels of the team’s conference championship win yesterday, this news hits our baseball players especially hard,” the school said in a statement Sunday, May 15. “There simply are no words.”
The school said in the statement that its chaplain was holding a gathering at 1:30 p.m. May 15 so students could “be together in this horrible loss.” It also said it would have “trained faculty and staff on hand” after the gathering for students who need support.
“We will walk through this together as a campus family with God as our strength,” the statement said. “Please support one another as the caring community that I know we are.”
Dunn was a resident of LaGrange, WRBL reported.
Lakes-Dunson-Robertson Funeral Home told WSBTV that he had been celebrating his sister’s birthday hours before the crash.
The funeral home told the outlet that Dunn’s family described him as the “epitome of love” and said he “loved and adored his nieces, nephews, and family.”
Loved ones, friends and community members mourned his loss on social media on May 15.
“Prayers up to the family! May God be with them and give them healing and peace,” one person wrote.
LaQuita Dunn, who said she is Rico Dunn’s aunt, wrote on Facebook that her nephew loved wildlife.
“Fishing was his life, he loved dogs, fish, turtles, snakes anything could be his pet,” LaQuita Dunn wrote. “Rico was a very (caring) person that would do anything for anybody whether he knew how to do it or not he would try.”
“Prayers for @lcbaseball21 @DavidDkelton the families and friends of the 2 LC players and the family and friends of Rico Dunn. What a tragedy,” LaGrange High School Principal Alton White wrote on Twitter.
LaGrange is about 47 miles north of Columbus.
This story was originally published May 15, 2022 at 5:05 PM with the headline "College baseball players among those killed in crash after title win, GA officials say."
