Dunwoody Baseball, Football Standout Killed in Car Crash

A Dunwoody High School baseball standout who tried out for the University of Georgia baseball team was killed in a weekend car accident.

Joseph Davis, 22, who went by his middle name, “Ian,” died early Sunday in a car wreck, along with Philip Lutzenkirchen, 23, of Marietta, who helped lead the Auburn Tigers football team to the 2010 National Championship, Patch earlier reported.

Davis, a catcher, tried out for the Georgia baseball team last year, but was cut when the Bulldogs had to set their final roster at the end of fall practice, reports The Ledger-Enquirer.

Georgia baseball coach Scott Stricklin noted Davis’ death via Twitter.

"Heartbroken to hear that Ian Davis has passed away. Just a great kid that had so much ahead of him," Stricklin tweeted from his personal Twitter account. "Thoughts and prayers go out to his family."

According to the Georgia Dogs website, Davis played his final two seasons for the Dunwoody Wildcats as a catcher/infielder and lettered in football. He hit .348 as a senior and .300 as a junior as the Wildcats won region titles and advanced to the state playoffs.

The accident occurred in Troup County, just southeast of LaGrange, at about 3:06 a.m. Sunday morning, Master Trooper B.N. Talley of the Georgia State Patrol told The Ledger-Enquirer of Columbus, GA.

Davis was driving a 2006 Chevy Tahoe with Lutzenkirchen and two other passengers inside. Police say Davis missed a stop sign, drove through an intersection and into a churchyard, where the vehicle flipped several times. The two men died at the scene.

The two other passengers in the vehicle — Elizabeth Ann Seaton Craig, 22, of Eatonton, Ga., and Christian Tanner Case, 20, of Dadeville, Ala. — were taken to the West Georgia Medical Center in LaGrange. Case, sitting in the front passenger seat, was wearing his seat belt. He was treated and released from the medical center. No update was available on Craig's condition. She was sitting in the back seat and not wearing her seat belt when she was thrown from the vehicle.

The Athens Banner-Herald says authorities drew blood from Davis to determine whether alcohol contributed to the crash.