Anaheim Angels’ Pitcher Nick Adenhart dies in car accident hours after promising outing

April 9, 2009--A few hours after Anaheim Angels' pitcher Nick Adenhart's most impressive game of his brief career -- just seven miles from the mound where he threw six scoreless innings -- the 22-year-old right-hander was killed by an alleged drunk driver who broadsided the car he was traveling in at a Fullerton intersection.

Two of Adenhart's friends, Henry Pearson, 25, and Courtney Frances Stewart, 20 were also killed. Jon Wilhite, another friend of Adenhart's was critically injured in the accident.  Police believe the defendant driver, 22-year-old Andrew Thomas Gallo, who ran the red light, had a suspended license and a previous drunk driving conviction.

Police said Adenhart and three of his friends had just left Stewart's apartment and were headed to a nearby dance club, In Cahoots, when they passed through a green light at the intersection of Orangethorpe Avenue and Lemon Street just after midnight. Police estimate that Gallo was driving his Toyota Sienna minivan at 50 to 60 mph when he struck the Eclipse.

Pearson, whom friends described as a law student, was killed along with Adenhart and Stewart, a Cal State Fullerton student. Wilhite, a former catcher for the Cal State Fullerton team, was in critical condition at UC Irvine Medical Center.

Police said Gallo, convicted in San Bernardino County of drunk driving in 2006 and marijuana possession the following year, ran from the scene but was quickly apprehended.

Adenhart was in his fifth professional season, most of it in the minor leagues, and made his big league debut last May against Oakland, becoming the youngest active-roster pitcher in the majors. His first and only major league victory came that month against the White Sox. This season, for the first time, Adenhart made the Angels' opening day roster.