By Troy Hamilton; The Whetstone

    

Korey Hendricks was friends with Deshawn Price for six years, ever since they both played baseball together at Polytech High School.

That all ended when Price was killed in a single-vehicle traffic accident in October.

Hendricks remembered him as a good friend to him.

 “Our friendship was pretty strong,” he said. “We met freshmen year at Polytech High School where we played baseball together. Our friendship and chemistry were both really solid.”

    At about 6 a.m. Oct. 23, 19-year-old Wesley College baseball player Deshawn Price Jr. was killed in a traffic accident in Clayton when he lost control of his Nissan Sentra as he was traveling south on Brenford Road, approaching Mt. Friendship Road, and crashed into a tree.

Delaware Police said he failed to negotiate a curve in the road. Police closed the road for 3-1/2 hours. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hendricks said he was shocked when he heard the news about Price.

 “I was one of the first people to find out,” he said. “I was in more disbelief than anything. He was always a super positive dude and was always smiling.”

  Teammate Matt Ortiz remembered his skills.

“He was a promising player gone too soon,” he said. “He had potential when playing and he threw hard.”

   Price and head coach Bret Underwood had a strong bond.

  “He was very receptive to coaching,” he said. “He was improving and he was a great athlete. When he came into the weight room, he was a hard worker. He was a very coachable kid.”

Underwood said he was shocked at the news.

“My first thought was to gather his teammates together to honor him so they can grieve and process this together as a group and remember him,” he said.  Â