Radford baseball player Joey Raccuia was killed in a single car crash on Wednesday, just four days after the freshman made his collegiate debut.
“We are heartbroken to share news of the passing of Joey Raccuia,” Radford Baseball shared in a post on Instagram. “Joey’s impact on our team, this community and all the lives he touched went far beyond the playing field, and we miss him deeply.”
“It is with deep sadness that I share news of the death of Joey Raccuia, a first-year student at Radford,” said vice president of student affairs Susan Trageser in a message to the Radford community. “We are heartbroken by his passing yesterday and extend our condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time.”
The crash occurred just a few miles away from the Highlanders’ baseball stadium. Raccuia, a 19-year-old shortstop/right-handed pitcher from Radford, was pronounced dead at the scene. It’s still unclear what caused the crash.
Prior to his death, Raccuia played in two of Radford’s first seven games, going 0-for-3 in his only at-bats.
He’s the son of former Radford head coach Joe Raccuia, who left the program in 2019 after 12 seasons at the helm. During that time, the Highlanders advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice. He now works as a player development staff member for the Kansas City Royals.
In Radford’s next game after the tragic news, the Highlanders walked off Bryant on Friday via a Brady Whitacre RBI single, coming back from down one in the bottom of the ninth to win 5-4.
Current manager Alex Guerra and his players dedicated the win to Raccuia.
“[Raccuia] was clearly with us today,” Guerra said postgame. “There’s absolutely no question about it. If you don’t believe in a higher power, you better start believing after that. It was fate.”
“We knew before the game, no matter how it went, we were going to stick together,” Whitacre added. “We had the conversation too of ‘What would Joey want to do?’ Joey would want to go out and play.”
Radford will look to continue to honor Raccuia during its series with Virginia Tech, which begins Tuesday.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
