NJ boy hit in head with line drive, fractures skull

ABERDEEN, Maryland — An 11-year-old North Jersey boy suffered a fractured skull after being hit in the head by a batted ball he had pitched just seconds earlier.

Ralph Warner was pitching for his Midland Park team in the Cal Ripken League championship game on Sunday in Aberdeen, Maryland, and took a line drive to his temple, according to a Facebook post by his mother, Nicky Antonucci Warner.

"He has broken his skull and has some hemorrhaging in the brain," Nicky Warner wrote.

Ralph was taken to John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he is still in ICU. Nicky posted a picture of her son giving a thumbs-up from his hospital bed.

"The earth has stood still for my whole family since Sunday morning. We've been quietly hoping with clenched teeth and heavy hearts," his aunt Nancy Warner posted on her Facebook page.

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Nicky told NorthJersey.com his teammates brought a Player of the Game trophy to his hospital room before returning to New Jersey.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ.