2 Georgia College Baseball Players Die In Car Crash

LAGRANGE, GA — Two freshman pitchers on the LaGrange College baseball team were killed Saturday night in a car crash, President Susanna Baxter told the college community in a letter posted to the school's athletics website.

Stephen Bartolotta of Palm City, Florida, and Jacob Brown of Duluth were killed just hours after the team claimed the USA South Conference championship with a win over North Carolina Wesleyan. It was the program's fifth straight conference tournament title.

Brown pitched 2 1/3 innings in relief during the 10-7 victory and was credited with the win on the mound.

"We will walk through this together as a campus family with God as our strength," Baxter said. "Please support one another as the caring community that I know we are."

The crash occurred around 9:15 p.m. on Roanoke Road near Paddle Wheel Drive, according to authorities.

Brown was driving a 2015 Honda Accord with Bartolotta in the passenger's seat when he tried to pass another car in a no-passing zone, according to the LaGrange Daily News.

The Accord struck a GMC Sierra head-on, and both players were killed instantly. The driver of the Sierra, 24-year-old Rico Dunn of LaGrange, was flown to Piedmont Columbus General Hospital, where he later died, according to the report.

This story is being updated.