CRASH DASHES MAJOR LEAGUE DREAMS ASPIRING PITCHER AMONG 3 MOURNED.

Byline: TONY CASTRO Staff Writer

LOS FELIZ -- Matthew Merrill, a promising Pasadena City College pitcher with dreams of making it to the major leagues, will never know that his last breath came just feet from the doorstep of his idol, Los Angeles Dodger legend Fernando Valenzuela.

``He would have liked to know that,'' his older sister Nicole said Thursday, tearfully recollecting the fiery car crash that killed her brother and his two childhood friends as they drove home early Wednesday from a party celebrating the 15th birthday of brother Kyle.

``Matt lived for baseball. That's all he wanted to do with his life.''

That much was obvious in the makeshift memorial created at the base of the 50-foot-tall tree in the 4800 block of Los Feliz Boulevard, where their car crashed and burst into flames.

Merrill of Atwater Village, riding in the front passenger seat, and Matthew Hernandez of Fontana, a student at California State University, Los Angeles, who was driving, died at the scene.

Sean Paul Balaney of Glendale, riding in the back seat, died a short while later. All three were 18 and had been friends since Holy Trinity School.

Kyle Merrill remained hospitalized Thursday in critical condition. Stephen Castillo, 14, was also hospitalized, although his condition was unknown.

Both are sophomores at Cathedral High School, where Matthew Merrill and Hernandez had graduated last spring.

Among the candles and flowers at the Los Feliz memorial were notes written on baseballs by the elder Merrill's former teammates at Cathedral and Pasadena City College. There were even baseballs placed in the shape of a cross, along with team caps and batting helmets left in his memory.

Merrill pitched in Pasadena City College's fall baseball program and was expected to contribute to the team as a freshman next spring.

``Matt's teammates and others who played with him in Little League and travel teams have been tremendous in their show of sympathy and their support,'' said Nicole Merrill, 21, who suffered burns to her face, hands and arms as she tried to pull the victims from the burning car.

What also troubled her, she said, was the perception that her brothers had been out partying late at night.

``That's just not the way it was,'' she said. ``Matt had just started working at the AM-PM (mini-market) in the neighborhood and didn't get off work until 10 at night. We wanted go out to eat to celebrate Kyle's birthday, but we wanted to wait for Matt. By that time it was late, but that's all we were doing, celebrating, having a late dinner.''

The five teenage boys were in a car owned by the Hernandez family as they headed toward the Merrill home in Atwater Village.

Police said the boys' car was trying to pass Nicole's car and swerved to avoid a slower-moving vehicle. Their car jumped the curb, crashed into a tree and erupted in flames.

While police said Hernandez was speeding, Nicole Merrill said she believes that a bumpy road caused him to lose control.

Nicole Merrill recalls pulling over to the side of the road and running back to the scene of the crash with her girlfriend, Veronica Gutierrez. They helped free the three back-seat passengers and worked frantically with neighborhood residents using garden hoses and buckets of water to try and extinguish the flames.

``Matt and Matty were trapped in the front seats, and we were doing our best to pour water on them,'' she said. ``I had my hands on Matt's head and face, but he wasn't conscious.''

``Don't let my brother die!'' Wayne Matewsky, one of the residents who tried to help douse the flames, recalled Nicole Merrill begging those trying to help.

Ramon Merrill, who had left the birthday dinner in another car, also arrived at the scene and tried to rescue his oldest son.

On Thursday, while Ramon Merrill waited at the hospital for Kyle to come out of surgery, Nicole Merrill exchanged phone calls from their home with the families of the other two young men who died. She said they are attempting to plan a joint service.

``Right now, we're all in shock,'' she said. ``It's the Christmas season, and we're planning funerals, burials, vigils and rosaries.''

tony.castro(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Jamie Gutierrez, who graduated from the same high school as three teenagers killed in a car crash, bows his head at a memorial for the victims of the solo vehicle crash that claimed the lives of the three and critically injured two more.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

(2) MATTHEW MERRILL