Funeral Held for NJ Teen Killed in Freak Baseball Accident

Died when pitcher's ball hit him in the chest

A New Jersey teen who died after he was hit in the chest by a baseball during practice will be laid to rest Tuesday.

The funeral procession will leave a church in Garnerville, N.Y., near where many of Thomas Adams' relatives live. It will pass by Garfield High School so classmates can pay respects before ending at a cemetery in Paramus.

The 16-year-old was a catcher with a Paterson-based traveling team that was preparing for a game in Florida and was practicing with a pitcher when the accident occurred Friday. The teen went into cardiac arrest and died at a hospital about an hour later.

Doctors say that the death was a freak accident, and that even though Adams was wearing a chest protector, it made no difference. 

"You have to wonder was there something at the school that could have save him. Was everything up to snuff," asked the teen's grief-stricken father, Tom Adams.
 
"How could something like this really happen? You drop him off at school and he's healthy and then the next thing you know it's like sorry. You can't fathom it," said Adams.

The Record newspaper reports his catching gear, including a chest protector, was turned over to the medical examiner.
       
Results of an autopsy are pending.

 "He had a dry sense of humor,very quiet other than that, a good student," said Michael McGinley, principal of Garfield High School where Adams was a sophomore.

mailto:roseanne.colletti@nbcuni.com
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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