Berry named to All-Conference team
Published 9:36 pm Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Nationally top-ranked Mount Olive swept all four top individual honors and placed eight players overall on the 2013 All-Conference Carolinas Baseball Team, which was announced Thursday, prior to the Trojans’ first-round game against Erskine in the Conference Carolinas Baseball Tournament in Burlington, N.C.
Shortstop Mike Mercurio was named Player of the Year, starter Matt Dillon was named Pitcher of the Year, second baseman Zak Orrison was named Freshman of the Year and Carl Lancaster was named Coach of the Year, as voted on by the conference baseball coaches.
Mercurio and Dillon were joined on the All-Conference Carolinas First Team by third baseman Jermaine Berry, catcher Geno Escalante, starting pitcher Alex Regan and designated hitter Bradon Reitano.
Berry, Dillon, Escalante, Mercurio, Regan and Reitano are all on the “Watch List” for the Tino Martinez Award for the Division II Baseball National Player of the Year.
Berry, a senior from Suffolk, ranks fourth in the conference and leads the Trojans in hitting with a .399 batting average. A two-time Conference Carolinas Player of the Week selection this season, he has 15 doubles, 47 runs batted in and 44 runs scored.
He collected hits in what is believed to be a school-record seven consecutive plate appearances during Mount Olive’s three-game series sweep over nationally ranked California (Pa.). Berry earns All-Conference Carolinas first team honors for the second straight year.
The Conference Carolinas tournament concluded Sunday, with Coker College winning and earning an automatic bid to the Southeast Regional of the 2013 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship.
Mount Olive and Town of Cary will co-host the NCAA Division II Baseball National Finals May 25-June 1 at USA Baseball National Training Center for the fifth consecutive year.