'Sandlot' Star Mike Vitar Dodges Prison for Vicious Beatdown (UPDATE)

10:48 AM PT -- TMZ has learned Mike Vitar has been placed on an unpaid 6 month suspension from the Fire Dept.

'Sandlot' star Mike Vitar won't be doing hard time for the near-fatal Halloween attack on a college grad student.

Vitar, now a firefighter, took a deal ... pleading no contest to misdemeanor battery. He and 2 other firefighters involved were initially facing 4 years in prison for felony assault.

Vitar will have to complete 90 days of community service and take weekly anger management classes for a year. He also has to pay a $2,000 fine and TBD amount of restitution to the victim ... which will be determined in a hearing next month.

The victim was beaten so badly his pulse stopped and the same firefighters who attacked him had to revive him.

One of the firefighters is still fighting the charges.