All-State selection Britt Berrier is one of eight Carroll County baseball players to receive postseason recognition after the Cavaliers finished the 2024 campaign with one of their best seasons in recent memory and a 15-5 record.
Berrier had an incredible junior campaign for the Cavaliers, one that saw the junior catcher named First-Team All-Three Rivers District, First-Team All-Region 3D and Second-Team All-State by the Virginia High School League. Offensively, Berrier is one of the rarest of players — a catcher who hits leadoff in the batting order. In 2024, Berrier led Carroll in nearly every offensive category, hitting for a whopping .441 batting average with 26 hits, 22 runs, 19 RBI, six doubles, one home run and a .593 slugging percentage. Defensively, Berrier was just as impressive, going the entire 2024 season without making a single error.
“It’s like I said in the region meeting, if we didn’t have Britt the last two seasons we would have been hurting,” said Carroll County head coach and soon-to-be AD Kevin DeHaven.
While Berrier’s statistics are undeniable, his value to the team goes much deeper than that, in ways the common fan may never notice. In fact, Berrier was so valued by the Carroll coaching staff DeHaven turned him loose to do something no other Cavalier catcher had done during DeHaven’s long coaching career at CCHS.
“Just the confidence and trust we have in him, he has called his own games for the last year-and-a half. We have started letting him call his own games and continued that,” DeHaven said. “I have never let one do that until him. Even when I had Matt Hall, I still called pitches, but Britt was one we trusted him doing that. It is pretty extraodinary doing that and catching every inning of every game and leading off. He is pretty special.”
DeHaven said Berrier is Carroll’s first all-state baseball player since Adam Crotts in 2010.
“He had no errors this past year, which for a catcher, he is pretty much involved in every pitch of every game,” DeHaven said. “And then the wear and tear on your body of a catcher, and he led us in hitting. I did let him run this year and he ended up being one of our best base runners with the instincts to take an extra base. I would occasionally, if we had three games in a week and two were back-to-back, we would run for him with two outs, just to give him a bit of a break. He would fuss at me for taking him out with less than two outs.”
Berrier’s battery mate, senior Lance Burnett, earned First-Team All-Three Rivers District and Second-Team All-Region 3D honors as a pitcher. Burnett compiled a 6-2 record in 2024 with a 2.24 Earned Run Average. Berrier struck out 65 batters against 14 walks while pitching 40.2 innings for the season. Of the 17 runs Burnett allowed, only 13 were earned. Opponents hit for a paltry .179 batting average against Burnett, who will play baseball this fall at New River Community College.
“Lance had a good season. He was solid for us. He got the ball in the big games and came through a lot of the times,” DeHaven said. “Lance has worked his butt off to get where he is at. If he will continue, he has a bright future. He was good for us on the mound, kept us in a lot of ball games. We brought him in relief a couple of times when Ben (Phillips) would start to just kind of split the load between those two.”
Carroll junior Ben Phillips joined Berrier and Burnett on the all-district first team as a first baseman. Phillips also earned Second-Team All-Region 3D accolades at the position. The Carroll junior was one of the Cavaliers’ top hitters as he finished with a .442 batting average, racking up 23 hits and 11 RBIs in the process.
“We were counting on him to throw a lot this year and he did really well for us. He struggled at the end, but he played more everyday because he was hitting the ball,” DeHaven said. “And I have told the kids since I took over if you are producing, you will be in the lineup somewhere. He has an amazing upside for his senior year.”
Carroll County senior Maddox Lyons also earned a spot on the All-Three Rivers District Second Team as an outfielder and honorable mention accolades in All-Region 3D voting. Lyons had an outstanding season at the plate and in the field for the Cavs. For the season he scored 17 runs, belted 21 hits, and finished with eight RBIs, two doubles, one triple and a .333 batting average. Lyons also came close to breaking the Carroll County single-season stolen base record with 18.
“He started a little slow hitting-wise, but defensively he gets such a good read on flyballs off the bat and just covers a tremendous amount of ground. He can run like a deer and he has a good arm,” DeHaven said. “But he was focused this year because he wanted the stolen base record. He ended up with 18 and the record was 22. If he would have been able to get on base earlier in the year, he would have easily broken it.”
Another Carroll underclassmen receiving postseason honors was junior Gage Nicholson, a second-team selection to the All-Region 3D squad as an outfielder. Nicholson did a little bit of everything for Carroll, batting .365 with 19 hits, 15 runs, 11 RBI, four doubles and a home run. Nicholson also recorded a .500 slugging percentage.
“He came to me during tryouts and asked if he could go to the outfield. I asked why he didn’t want to play shortstop? He said he felt more comfortable in the outfield, I think because he played there a summer ago and did well,” DeHaven said. “We filled a hole in left field due to graduation with him and he was a solid hitter all year. He pitched really well when he got the chance. I expect big things out of Cody (Reece), Ben and all the other kids coming back.”
Also receiving postseason honors for Carroll County were Mason Crockett, Avery Hart and Cody Reece, each of which received honorable mention all-district acclaim. Hart earned his spot as a shortstop.
“We moved Avery from second base to shortstop because Gage wanted to pitch a bit more and he asked about playing outfield more. We moved Avery to short and Avery played his tail off and saved I don’t know how many runs for us this year,” DeHaven said. “And his hitting surprised me. Going off his junior year he didn’t hit for a very high average, and this year he came through a lot in clutch for us with big hits and scoring runs. He was a big addition offensively.”
Reece earned honorable mention honors after a fine season at third base after missing the previous season due to an injury.
“Cody was a really nice addition. He solidified third base for us and made some unbelievable plays coming in on balls and throwing on the run,” DeHaven said. “He played well defensively and toward the middle part of the season hitting-wise he was tearing it up. He tried to do a little too much at the end of the season, but I think he will be alright at the plate, and he will throw a lot next year.”
Senior Mason Crockett received postseason honors in a year in which DeHaven figured he would focus more on his developing football career (Crockett was recently offered a preferred walk-on spot to play football at Virginia Tech).
“On the first day of tryouts at about 1:30 I was sitting in government class with Coach (Casey) Burcham. He says, ‘Coach I need to talk to you.’ I was expecting him to say because he was not playing,” DeHaven said. “He said, ‘Coach, it is killing me. I’m getting my stuff and coming to tryouts.’ I said great. I told him I know football is a high priority, so I told him we will work around practice schedules for whatever you need to do for football. I told him not let baseball get in the way. I think just knowing that from the get-go and having no pressure, he had an unbelievable season. Defensively he played well and offensively he hit way better than I was expecting him to. He did really well for us and I think it was due to no pressure.”
Allen Worrell can be reached at (276) 779-4062 or on X@AWorrellTCN
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