Posted on 04/26/2006 1:15:48 PM PDT by Gil4
Nevada freshman pitcher dies after hospitalization Associated Press
RENO, Nev. -- A freshman pitcher for the Nevada Wolf Pack died Tuesday at a Reno hospital after being rushed there the night before with undisclosed injuries, school officials said.
Steve Masten, 18, who starred at Spanish Springs High School in Sparks, was reported in critical condition at Washoe Medical Center earlier Tuesday before he died there later in the day, school officials said.
Nevada coach Gary Powers on Monday said the hospitalization was the result of an "unfortunate incident within the program.'' But school officials refused to discuss the nature of the incident or the injuries sustained.
School spokeswoman Rhonda Lundin said university officials would not discuss any of the details surrounding Masten's death. She referred calls to the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, which did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The school earlier announced that Nevada's game scheduled Tuesday at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, Calif., was canceled because of Masten's hospitalization.
Masten's mother, Lisa, late Tuesday said the family is requesting privacy.
"This has been extremely tough on all of us,'' she told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "He had a bright future in any route he decided to take. It's an unfortunate thing that happened and we have to move on. We loved him dearly.''
As a senior in high school, Masten was named northern Nevada's pitcher of the year in Class 4-A for the largest schools and was considered a pro prospect.
"Steven was a wonderful student-athlete with a bright future,'' Powers said in a statement released by the athletic department.
"He will be deeply missed by everyone in the Wolf Pack baseball family. Our prayers and thoughts are with his family,'' he said.
Nevada athletic director Cary Groth said the university community wanted to extend its deepest sympathy to Masten's family.
"Our priority is to provide whatever support we can to his family, our student-athletes and coaching staff,'' Groth said in a statement.
The athletic administrator at his high school in Spanish Springs, a suburb north of Reno, said the incident was "very saddening'' and came as "quite a shock.''
"We are just shaking our heads and can't believe it,'' Doug Parry told the Gazette-Journal.
"This hits us all pretty hard. Obviously our baseball team is aware of it. We are prepared here through our counseling offices and the school district resources to help the students here try to deal with this,'' he said.
Masten last pitched for Nevada on April 14 against Hawaii. He was 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA this season. His first collegiate win came March 18 with 3 1/3 innings of relief in a 17-10 victory over Northern Illinois at Reno.
Masten chose to attend Nevada out of high school after being recruited by UCLA, Pepperdine and Santa Clara. He was touted as a major league prospect but went undrafted in MLB's amateur draft last June.
He lettered three years in baseball and twice in basketball at Spanish Springs. As a senior last year, he was the Northern 4A pitcher of the year, going 7-1 with a 1.42 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings.
Lundin said she expected Nevada's three-game series at home against San Jose State to continue as scheduled Friday through Sunday.
She requested that media refrain from contacting any coaches or student athletes for comment.
Sounds like a suicide. Or accidental asphyxiation.
Unfortunate incident? And the kid is dead? Sounds like much more than an unfortunate incident.
Hazing maybe? Or serious team drinking stunts?
I hope not, but since he was a freshman pitcher, this sounds like hazing. If so, some kids are in bigtime trouble, as they should be.
Incident? I imagine the nature of the "incident" will come out a little later.
Strange and sad but I thought deaths were public records, I don't think they can keep a lid on it very long.
Yeah, sports radio reported the initial injuries a few days ago...
This is some of the most surreal secrecy I've ever seen about anything like this.
Perhaps a dogpile. It's popular in HS to do that now to 'noobs' on a team.
I didn't think of those possibilities. Thanks for pointing them out. I shouldn't have been so quick to come to a conclusion.
"Perhaps a dogpile."
Please explain for those of us who don't have a clue.
From this site:
http://media.www.nevadasagebrush.com/media/storage/paper553/news/2006/04/25/BreakingNews/Sheriffs.Investigate.Unr.Baseball.Players.Death-1876988.shtml?sourcedomain=www.nevadasagebrush.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com
University of Nevada, Reno freshman pitcher Steve Masten died Tuesday after suffering an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 18.
Officials haven't released a cause of death and the Washoe County Sheriff's office is still investigating the case.
He was in the Washoe Medical Center's intensive care unit until he died.
Becka Higgs, a Nye Hall resident assistant, said Monday that an Argenta Hall resident suffered an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound off campus.
a dogpile is when your child, generally a son, ends up on the bottom of a large pile of other students. Think of piling on in football.
My middle son got dogpiled and was scared of suffocating, and had really sore ribs. But he took it for the team -- no words or problems. BUT the coach has since (not because of him alone) halted the behavior.
Facts end speculation. thanks.
Game of Russian Roulette? Or of course it could be suicide, young men sometimes have problems at that age. Either way, my sympathies go out to the parents.
I though the same thing as you, but I didn't want to use the "s" word.
I thought the mother's comments were weird: "It's an unfortunate thing that happened and we have to move on."
I imagine having a microphone shoved in your face for the first time while you're going through an extremely difficult time can make the words come out strange, but I don't even remember the kid's name and I'm not ready to "move on" yet.
I had to dig for that one. Poor kid. I have the utmost sympathy for his parents and for all who called him a friend.
Suicide is a sad thing, whenever it happens.
I hope the silly speculations will end.
Unless a crime was committed I would hope the media respects the family's privacy during this tragedy.
The problem was suicide. Enough already!
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