IOWA BUS CRASH KILLS 19-YEAR-OLD SOUTH DAKOTA COLLEGE BASEBALL PLAYER, OFFICIALS SAY. (PHOTO).

 Iowa bus crash kills 19-year-old South Dakota college baseball player, officials say

 Authorities have identified a 19-year-old from South Dakota as the only person killed in a bus crash in rural Iowa that left 32 other members of a community college baseball team injured.

Carter Johnson, an outfielder in his first year at Iowa Lakes Community College from Rapid City, died Wednesday after the team’s bus overturned in a ditch along a highway near Twin Lakes, Iowa, about 85 miles northwest of Des Moines. Iowa State Patrol Lt. Aaron Smidt said the bus went off the road for “unknown reasons,” and the crash remains under investigation.

“Carter was a great teammate, a friend, and a valued member of our athletic community,” said Troy Larson, the school’s athletic director. “In his time here, he really impacted our campus, both in the classroom and on the playing field.”

Smidt said student-athletes in a trailing vehicle were performing CPR on Johnson when first responders arrived, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The remaining 32 passengers sustained injuries but are stable, with three airlifted to hospitals in the Des Moines area.

The team had games scheduled on Thursday and Friday at North Arkansas College in Harrison, Arkansas. Larson said coaches and players will meet in the coming weeks to determine how to continue the season. Smidt noted the crash was “a pretty violent collision” and that recovery from injuries will take time.