Conviction In Baseball Bat Attack

A 13-year-old boy was convicted Friday of beating another teen to death with a baseball bat after his team lost its first game of the season.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Richard Naranjo found the teen guilty of second-degree murder in juvenile court.

The boy, whose name was not released because he is a minor, struck 15-year-old Jeremy Rourke in the knee and again in the head after an April 12 youth league game. Jeremy died later that night.

The teen's sentencing was scheduled for July 28.

His sentence could range from probation to imprisonment until he is 25, said district attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison.

The 13-year-old, who was a pitcher in the game, testified during the trial that he felt threatened by the much bigger teen. He said Jeremy pushed him and used a racial slur as the two waited in line at the concession stand in Palmdale, about 40 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Defense attorney William McKinney said his client was acting in self-defense. The defendant is black and Jeremy was white, but McKinney said he did not believe the incident was racially motivated.

In April, the victim's father, said he had mixed emotions on what should happen to the 13-year-old.

The father, Brian Rourke, says the family has known the boy for a long time, and doesn't want him to "lose the rest of his life." But Rourke says in a broadcast interview there has to be some punishment for what happened to his son.

The incident seemed to start innocently enough, by the snack bar, after a Pony League baseball game. Witnesses say Jeremy was needling and shoving the younger player for pitching a losing game when the 13-year-old seemed to snap.

Witness Sam Cordova says, "They were kinda teasing each other, and the next thing you know, the boy pulled out a bat and he kinda hit him once in the side and once up around the neck, and then he just hit him really with tremendous force to the head. …His head just sounded like a pumpkin getting hit with a bat."

Jeremy loved baseball and was known to get into neighborhood fights, reports CBS News Correspondent Bill Whitaker.

"I was just stunned and I don't know why anybody would do that," says a friend, Trevor Bloom, shortly after the accident.