Cincinnati youth baseball player recovering in hospital after being hit by line drive

By Danielle Dindak

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    CINCINNATI (WLWT) — A local travel baseball team is rallying around one of its own after a scary in-game injury sent their star pitcher to the hospital.

The Cincy Legends 12U team is currently playing in Cooperstown, New York.

On Monday, the team was playing against another nationally ranked team from Texas.

Cincy Legends 12U Coach Brennan Ryan talked about the close game and distinctly remembers what happened at the top of the fifth inning; Eddie Frazier was on the mound.

“There was a line drive up the middle that just got him right in the temple, and it hit him so hard it went right to the first baseman, like a hard groundout off of his head,” Ryan said. “He was unconscious before he hit the ground.”

Frazier was rushed to a hospital in upstate New York.

According to Ryan, scans showed the 12-year-old had a fractured skull and some bleeding on the brain. Doctors decided to fly him to a trauma center in Albany.

“Kids were scared for their teammate, and it was tough,” Ryan said. “It was something that will stick with you and gives you perspective as a father, as a human, as a coach. You realize that winning a game is absolutely nothing compared to life.”

After Frazier left the field, both teams put the game aside and prayed for him.

His team went on to win that game, along with their next.

Each inning they played, their focus was winning for Frazier, and the team even wore a number 10 sticker on their helmets in honor of him.

“There’s no manual on how to handle that or how to respond,” Ryan said. “I told them that it’s okay to be scared and okay to cry. There wasn’t a dry eye in the park.”

On Tuesday night, the squad found themselves in a tough position. They were down 11-4 with only one out to go in the last inning.

“They refused to give up and wanted to fight. They told me they were doing this for Eddie,” Ryan said. “They rallied and scored 10 runs, all with one out to go, and won the game.”

After the win, the team was celebrating, and someone handed Ryan the phone. It was a FaceTime from Frazier.

“It was the first time all of the players got to talk to him and see how he was,” Ryan said.

The players all screamed how they loved their fellow teammate and sent him well wishes.

According to Ryan, Frazier is doing much better, but he does have a long road to recovery.

The coach said when Frazier woke up in the hospital, he started talking about his pitch count and asked his parents about how the team was doing.

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