Batboy Dies After Being Hit In The Head By Kansas Player Swinging Bat During World Baseball Congress World Series
A batboy for a Kansas amateur baseball team died a day after being hit in the head by a bat during practice swing at a Liberal Bee Jays game. Kaiser Carlile, 9, died on Sunday. The team is based out of Liberal, Kansas.
Kaiser Carlile was hit in the head with a bat when a Liberal Bee Jays player did not see him standing so close during the practice swing. The team was playing in the National Baseball Congress World Series when the tragic accident occurred. The batboy got right back up after being hit by the baseball bat, but then fell immediately back down to the ground.
Heartbreaking. 9-year-old batboy dies after being accidentally hit w/ bat near on-deck circle: http://t.co/GLUUVFSU3k pic.twitter.com/d8eyFe5dTM
— Andrew Tavani (@andrewtavani) August 3, 2015
“With the permission of the family, and with much sorrow and a very broken heart, I regretfully inform everyone that Kaiser Carlile passed away earlier this evening. Please keep his family and our team in your thoughts and prayers,” a statement announcing the batboy’s death on the Kansas baseball team’s Facebook page read.
https://youtu.be/z1Vhnd3T_6E
During an interview with the Wichita Eagle, Liberal Bee Jays General Manager, Mike Carlile, said the players were informed of the batboy’s death before another game in the National Baseball Congress World Series began. The team reportedly won 8-0 over Haysville, Kansas, and advanced onto the semifinals.
“No one wrote us a book to tell us how to do this. We’re just dealing with it the best way we know how and that’s to keep coming out and keep honoring Kaiser on the field.” Mike Carlile said. Kaiser Carlile was reportedly the son of the general manager’s cousin.
Kasier was reportedly standing near the on deck circle during the baseball team’s 13-5 win over a team from San Diego on Saturday afternoon. The Kansas batboy was wearing a helmet, as is required by the league. Initial emergency treatment for the bat swing injury to the head was reportedly given by the home plate umpire, who was also an experienced paramedic.
https://youtu.be/30iWkXfr89k
“I’m just at a loss of words. It is such an unfortunate accident and all we can do is be strong for the family,” Liberal Bee Jays manager Adam Anderson said. “That’s all they wanted us to do was go out there and play a good baseball game and that’s what we did.” Immediately after the game, Anderson said, “It was a very emotional game for our guys and it was incredible how they were able to claw through to just stay in the game mentally. Now all we can do is hope and pray that everything works out OK.”
[Images via Twitter]
