Head Injury After Beaning Lands Cope in the Hospital

Ryan Cope, a Westlake High baseball player and a member of The Times’ 1997 All-Ventura County team, was hospitalized Monday with a head injury after being hit by a pitch Saturday in an American Legion game at Thousand Oaks High.

Cope, 17, was immediately taken to Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks after suffering the injury Saturday, but was released several hours later after tests revealed a slight concussion.

By Monday, however, his slurred speech, lack of appetite and a rising fever led his father, David Cope, to take him back to the hospital.

Ryan Cope was given his second CAT scan in three days and his father said it revealed a hemorrhage and swelling in his brain. Cope was held overnight for observation and released at about noon Tuesday, David Cope said.

Cope was examined by a neurologist and a neurosurgeon and will meet with them again in a week.

In the meantime he has been told to remain in his house for seven days and not play sports for at least a month..

The forced inactivity means Cope, a potential college prospect, will not be able to try out for the Area Code Games, a series of summer all-star games.

Cope, a senior-to-be who transferred to Westlake from Thousand Oaks midway through his junior year, was playing in his first game at his former school, which he left after disagreements with baseball Coach Bill Sizemore.

Cope stepped to the plate for the first time with his team trailing Thousand Oaks, known during the summer as the Conejo Knights, 9-0, in the third inning. The first pitch from Tracy Goebel hit Cope in the left side of his batting helmet, knocking him down.

Goebel, who will be a sophomore next season, said the pitch that hit Cope was a fastball that got away. Goebel hit another batter earlier in the inning.

“I know it looks a little suspicious but I didn’t do it intentionally; there’s nothing else I can say,” said Goebel, who apologized to Cope over the phone Monday morning.

Monday afternoon, Cope said he hadn’t given much thought as to whether the beaning was intentional but added, “There are a lot of people on both teams that think it was.”

Sizemore said he does not tell his pitchers to hit opponents but that he does teach them to throw pitches on the inside half of the plate.

“I knew immediately after it happened what the implications might be,” Sizemore said. “It wasn’t on purpose and I feel bad it happened.”