PAWTUCKET — Former Pawtucket Red Sox pitcher Josh Hancock was killed when his SUV slammed into the back of a parked tow truck on a St. Louis highway early Sunday morning. The 29-year-old pitcher for the Cardinals was killed on impact, according to a police report.

PawSox manager Ron Johnson, who had Hancock as a young pitcher in the Red Sox organization at the Class-A and Class-AA levels, was driving home Sunday night from McCoy Stadium after a long and tiring day at the ballpark.

Ironically, he had just turned onto Route 295 when he came upon a tow truck in the high-speed lane that was parked and pulling another vehicle off the median. It was a strange feeling for Johnson, especially knowing Hancock had died less than 24 hours earlier.

The road can be a dangerous place late at night and in the early-morning hours, the time when baseball players are heading home. Even though the cause of Hancock’s accident is not yet known, driving home while drowsy can be dangerous.

According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study published in an AAA newsletter, there are almost 100,000 crashes a year in the United States due to drivers falling asleep at the wheel. As a result, there are 71,000 injuries and 1,500 deaths. The most at-risk group is males 25 and under, according to the study.

Red Sox pitching prospects Manny Delcarmen, 25, and Craig Hansen, 23, make the commute from Boston to Pawtucket and back on a daily basis while both are playing for the PawSox. Workdays at the ballpark can be long and tiring, so an hour-long ride home in the early-morning hours can sometimes be arduous.

“I’m always tired when I’m driving,” said Hansen, who admitted he has sleep apnea. “But, luckily, knock on wood, nothing bad has happened yet.”

Hansen admitted he has had recurring dreams about falling asleep at the wheel. When he was at St. John’s, he would drive from New York to Boston a lot to visit a friend and would take a nap before he started driving, knowing he gets tired behind the wheel.

During those naps he would dream that he was falling asleep while driving and wake up picturing his car surrounded by trees. Or he would dream that he fell asleep at the wheel and wake up just before his car would hit a truck. Once, he dreamed he was actually sitting in traffic and dozed off.

Now, he said, he’s more aware when he drives because of the problems he’s had in the past.

“If I’m tired, I usually have someone call because that always helps to stay awake,” said Hansen. “There has been many times where I actually did fall asleep while driving many times in the past. Not that much anymore. It’s not good. It’s not fun waking up and not remembering what you just did or how you got to where you were.”

Delcarmen said he’s aware of himself and others on the road when he’s driving back to Boston after leaving Pawtucket, especially after hearing about Hancock’s accident.

“I try to keep my music up and open my window,” said Delcarmen. “You definitely think about it, especially after something like that. You want to be a little more careful.”

When the PawSox are playing at home, the drive back isn’t that bad. But when the team arrives home after a long bus trip, some players have thought about staying in the clubhouse. Understandably, the majority want to sleep in their own beds.

“I would rather stay in my own house,” said Delcarmen. “But I’m sure that [accident] is in the back of everyone’s mind right now and we need to be a little more careful.”

Delcarmen said he would now consider getting a hotel room or maybe even staying in the clubhouse. Because Hansen and Delcarmen have been making the late-night trek back to the Boston area, several teammates have offered a comfortable couch in their apartments, if needed.

Everyone who has a driver’s license has had some kind of scare behind the wheel, and athletes are no different. Hansen and Delcarmen actually have had recent scares on the road.

During spring training, Hansen was driving over the bridge that connects Fort Myers and Sanibel when, just over the crest of the hill, there was a disabled vehicle in front of him. He had to swerve out of the way, and in the process cut another car off.

Delcarmen was driving home one night last offseason on Route 24 in Massachusetts, with his wife following in the car behind him, when he saw a tow truck stopped with its lights on a few hundred feet in front of him. Delcarmen said he was traveling around 75 mph when he quickly noticed a broken-down car right in front of him.

The car had been in an accident and the tow truck was in front of it, so he couldn’t see the disabled vehicle. He slammed on the brakes and had to swerve out of the way. Plus, he was worried that his wife’s car might rear-end him. Fortunately, everyone was fine.

“The car had no lights and was totaled,” remembered Delcarmen. “I had to pull over, and it looked like someone was definitely killed. I had to wait 10 or 15 minutes because my heart [was pounding].”

When asked, Johnson said he’s not worried about the pair of pitching prospects driving back to Boston after a long day of work.

“They’re responsible enough,” said the manager. “I worry about everything. I worried about my wife flying home on Sunday. When life’s situations come at you, you can’t go through your daily life and be afraid of driving home or getting on a plane. We have to do those things, and it’s really unfortunate, though, when it hits you in the face like this. You can’t live like that. That’s a part of living, and you have to live life. Unfortunately, accidents are part of living and things happen.”

““I’m always tired when I’m driving. But, luckily, knock on wood, nothing bad has happened yet.”” — Craig Hansen

jmcdonal@projol.com