Bradley Baseball Player Is Killed in Accident

A Bradley University baseball player was killed and two others were critically injured when a van carrying players to a tournament collided with a flatbed truck carrying a wide load, the Missouri Highway Patrol said Tuesday.

Tim Trunk 19, a pitcher from Oak Forest, Ill., was killed when the van--one of three carrying Bradley players to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in Wichita, Kan.--collided with a truck on U.S. 54 about 12 miles east of Mexico, Mo.

Bob Becker, 21, of Belleville, Ill., remained in critical condition at the University of Missouri hospital in Columbia. The condition of David Carr, 21, of Crown Point, Ind., was upgraded from critical to serious.

Bo Ryan, assistant sports information director at Bradley, said that Becker suffered a severely injured left shoulder and arm and serious damage to his left eye. Ryan said Carr suffered a damaged left shoulder, broken vertebrae and a severely bruised chest.

The van driver, Michael Bell, 20, of Rock Island, Ill., a junior college transfer sitting out this season for medical reasons, was released after treatment. Four other players in the van escaped injury.

The Highway Patrol said the van had passed another vehicle when it struck the large tractor frame on the bed of the truck. Part of the frame went through the driver-side windows of the van. Both vehicles were on the center line of the two-lane highway.

Bradley withdrew from the tournament and the team returned to Peoria, Ill., by bus.