June 5, 2003
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Back home in Albuquerque for a short visit in August, Arizona State senior pitcher Carlos Arguello was asleep on his parents' living room couch when the phone rang on a Saturday at 6 a.m.
"You don't know yet?" an old girlfriend said. "Your brother was stabbed."
Arguello soon he learned his 20-year-old brother, Andres, died in the hospital at the University of New Mexico, where he was a student.
"It was the worst feeling I've ever had," Arguello said.
Witnesses told Albuquerque Police that Andres and his housemates were hosting a party when a fight broke out over a cup of beer. Andres moved into the fracas to be a peacemaker. He was stabbed in the heart by a 16-year-old, whose older cousin stabbed two other partygoers who survived.
He was Arguello's only sibling; just 10 1/2 months separated them. He was Arguello's favorite baseball teammate for a decade. They had spent every day of Arguello's home visit together. They had just taken their mother to lunch the previous day.
Andres was the guy who made excited calls to every friend when Arguello made his ASU debut in last year's nationally televised game at Florida State. He was the guy who pinned a story on his wall from last year's NCAA regional, when Arguello threw a one-run complete game against San Diego.
Yet when Arguello called ASU coach Pat Murphy to let him know what happened, he stunned him. He said he would be there the following week for school.