Rookie pitcher and Maryland native killed

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By Beth Harris ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP) -- Hours after pitching his best game yet in the major leagues, Los Angeles Angels rookie Nick Adenhart, a Silver Springs, Md. native, was killed by a suspected drunk driver, leaving his teammates and fans stunned because he won't be around to fulfill the promise he had shown.

The Angels planned to pay tribute to the 22-year-old pitcher before Friday night's opener of a three-game series against Boston in Anaheim. They will wear a patch or emblem on their jerseys the rest of the season to honor him.

Adenhart attended Williamsport High, in Williamsport, Md.

Jill Selby and her son, of Boonsboro, Md., have set up a makeshift memorial near the baseball field at Williamsport High School -- the site where the young pitching prospect threw before professional scouts, according to the Hagerstown Herald-Mail.

The memorial included flowers and a sign that read, Adenhart #34 Always Our Angel. Mrs. Selby said she watched Adenhart pitch Wednesday night on television.

I was devastated, she told the newspaper. Hes our local hero.

The team postponed Thursday night's series finale against Oakland to mourn Adenhart, who was killed along with two other passengers in a car crash early Thursday in neighboring Fullerton.

The car they were riding in was broadsided in an intersection by a minivan that apparently ran a red light, police said.

Andrew Thomas Gallo, 22, of Riverside, was driving on a suspended license because of a previous drunk driving conviction. Preliminary results indicated Mr. Gallo's blood-alcohol level was "substantially over the legal limit" of .08 percent, police Lt. Kevin Hamilton said.