UNIONTOWN -- An 8-year-old boy who told authorities he was bribed by his coach to throw a baseball at an autistic teammate testified yesterday that after he hit the teammate in the groin, the coach ordered him "to go out there and hit him harder."

Keith Reese told Uniontown District Justice Deberah Kula that his coach, Mark Downs Jr., 27, not only offered him $25 on June 27 to hurl a ball at his teammate's head before a playoff game, but also goaded him into throwing another ball when the first one did not get the boy to pull out of the game.

At the end of the hearing, Kula ordered Downs held for trial on two counts of criminal solicitation to commit aggravated assault, corruption of minors, conspiracy to commit simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. He will be arraigned Sept. 15.

Police have said Downs wanted to bench 9-year-old Harry Bowers Jr. because he is autistic and wasn't as good as the other players.

Downs, who did not testify, appeared to be calm and subdued as Fayette County District Attorney Nancy Vernon brought up four witnesses who all claimed that Downs prodded Reese into throwing the ball.

Reese, one of the team's star players, testified that after he hit Bowers twice with a baseball as they played catch before a game, the coach altered the bribe.

As the team gathered for ice cream to celebrate after the game, Reese testified, Downs told him he would get $25 if he joined a fall league team. No money exchanged hands, Reese said.

Reese's father, Keith Reese Sr., said Downs confessed as he helped him with equipment after the game.

"He told me, 'I did something ignorant. I asked [Keith] to hit Harry with the ball.' "

Keith Sr. also said that on several occasions Downs did not tell Harry's mother when or where the team was having games.

According to the by-laws of the R.W. Clark Youth Baseball League, all players have to play three innings in every game. The league's executive body confronted Downs a day after the game and investigated the matter, but did not substantiate the claims.

League President Eric Forsythe testified that after talking to both sets of parents and the coach, the league could not determine any wrongdoing and told Bowers' mother to go to the state police.

Jennifer Bowers, the autistic boy's mother, said her son's left ear was swollen and bled slightly after the ball smashed against his head. Downs told Bowers that her son should sit out the game after he was struck.

"The balls must be after him," Bowers testified Downs told her. "He should take the day off ."

Bowers did not take the boy to a doctor until five days after the incident because she was unable to get an appointment. She said Harry had red marks on his groin and over his ear.

Harry Bowers took the stand briefly and confirmed that he had been struck in the groin and in the head.

Thomas Shaffer, Downs' lawyer, said that there were too many inconsistencies in both the player's and parent's testimony for the story to be credible.

Vernon said she was pleased with the outcome. She said the "bond of trust" between a player and coach was clearly violated in this case.

Reese Jr. told the judge that he felt badly for what he had done and testified that he told his stepmother immediately after the game that Downs told him to hurt his teammate.

His father testified that his wife confronted Downs after the game.

"My wife told him 'this better have not happened,' " the elder Reese testified. "He said it didn't."