Coach will stand trial in T-ball assault case

UNIONTOWN, Pa. – A youth baseball coach Thursday was ordered to stand trial for allegedly promising to pay one of his players $25 to hurt a 9-year-old mentally disabled teammate.

Eight-year-old Keith Reese testified at a preliminary hearing that T-ball coach Mark R. Downs Jr. made the offer before a June 27 game.

“He told me if I would hit (the teammate) in the face, he would pay me $25,” Keith said.

Reese said he had never warmed up for a game with his mentally disabled teammate, Harry Bowers.

His first toss hit Bowers in the groin area. As the boy walked away, he said his coach told him to “go out there and hit him harder.”

“So I went out and hit him in the ear,” Reese said.

Downs, 27, will be arraigned Sept. 15 on two counts of criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault and one count each of corruption of minors, criminal conspiracy and recklessly endangering another person.