Nine-year-old batboy dies after being hit in head by bat during game

A 9-year-old boy died from his injuries on Sunday after he was hit in the head with a bat during a baseball game in Kansas a day earlier

A nine-year-old boy died from his injuries on Sunday after he was hit in the head with a bat during a baseball game in Kansas a day earlier, his team announced on its Facebook page.

Kaiser Carlile, a batboy for the Liberal Bee Jays in Liberal, Kansas, was hit when a batter took practice swings and during the backswing struck Carlile in the head as he was retrieving a bat during a National Baseball Congress World Series game.

Carlile was wearing a helmet at the time he was injured, according to a National Baseball Congress spokesman. The National Baseball Congress told USA Today that is has suspended the use of bat boys and bat girls for the remainder of its World Series games in the wake of Carlile's death.

“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,” team president Nathan McCaffrey wrote in a statement posted on Facebook. “Please keep his family and our team in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you all for the support during this ordeal.”

The team said that the plate umpire, Mark Goldfeder, a longtime paramedic, treated Carlile at the scene until an ambulance arrived and took the boy to a hospital, where he remained in critical condition until Sunday.

The Bee Jays, who play in the Jayhawk Baseball League, which is a summer league for amateur and semi-pro players, went on to beat the San Diego Waves 12-5 in 13 innings in Saturday’s game and defeated the Haysville Aviators 8-0 on Sunday.

“It's difficult to remember a day that is darker than this one," National Baseball Congress general manager Kevin Jenks said. "Sometimes life doesn't make sense and this accident certainly is a memorable example. Kaiser was simply doing something he loved."

- Scooby Axson