Hayden Berry is not quite ready to hang up his baseball spikes.
Berry is a 2025 Gilmer High honor graduate, and his next destination is Brewton-Parker College. Outside of the classroom, he will continue his maturation as a pitcher for the Barons.
BPC was one of three schools to heavily pursue Berry along with Truett-McConnell University and Oglethorpe University.
“I received a scholarship offer from Truett-McConnell as well but chose to go to Brewton-Parker instead,” Berry said. “They were really good to me and offered me significantly more than TMU. It felt like home there and one of my best friends (GHS alum Grant Cochran) is going down there and will be a pitcher too.”
Berry threw a bullpen session with the Barons’ all-conference catcher on his visit and also got a chance to meet some of his future teammates.
“The first time I went down there, I did some live hitting and did some hitting in the cage as well,” Berry said of one of his trips.
“I had a really good season on the mound at Gilmer, and when I went back down there as a pitcher and threw a bullpen for them and they really liked what they saw. So I’ll be going down there as a pitcher only.”
At GHS, Berry was a dependable catcher over the past two seasons and was behind the plate for every game when he was not pitching. For now, those days are over as he focuses solely on pitching.
“I kind of like it because it’s going to be a lot less stressful,” Berry said. “I’ll be able to go out and throw a few times per week, and I don’t have to worry about hitting or all that either. It sets the ceiling really high for me only having to worry about pitching.”
Playing in college has been on Berry’s radar since his days as a rec league player. Over time he discovered where he would be best suited to continue playing.
“I’ve always wanted to play in college ever since I was really little,” he said. “Obviously I wanted to go D I. Reality set in when I got to high school that D I probably wasn’t an option and I should probably go to a smaller school like a JUCO or NAIA. I really started to explore my options after sophomore and junior year.”.
Like most college-bound athletes, Berry honed his skills with extra time on the field. He started to play travel ball with the Cherokee Reds when he was 12 years old.
“We ended up winning the Little League World Series down in Orange Beach with them. I’ve pretty much been playing travel ball the past eight years of my life,” he said.
His latest team was Cherokee County’s Georgia Academy, who Berry played with last summer. Berry said he typically played between 30 and 50 games per travel season.
“I got a lot of good exposure with them too,” Berry said. “With travel, I learned you need to get yourself out there on social media. I also learned I need to get in the weight room and start taking my diet really seriously to be a college athlete and go to the next level and be successful.”
Berry was a key component of Gilmer’s state playoff berths the previous two seasons. The Cats’ trip to the postseason in 2024 was their first since 2017, and they proved they were not just happy to be there. GHS defeated Ringgold 4-2 in game one of the best-of-three series for the school’s first state playoff victory.
Gilmer ended the season with a 16-15 record, which was the program’s first winning season since 2013. The Cats scored 193 runs with the next closest total being 155 in both 2012 and 2013.
Berry earned a second team all-region selection and ended his junior season with 24 hits, three home runs, nine doubles and 18 RBIs. He drew 11 walks and had a .276 batting average.
Gilmer earned an at-large bid this past season for the program’s first-ever back-to-back trips to the state playoffs. GHS posted a 15-16 record and Berry was voted to the all-region second team once more.
This time he was recognized for his role as a pitcher. He finished his senior season with a 4-3 record and tossed 35 1/3 innings. He struck out 44, walked 31 and recorded a 6.53 ERA.
“It was a lot of fun and we had really good team chemistry that allowed us to go and beat Ringgold,” he said. “It was huge for us to get that win so we could see what it takes to get there again, and we showed that again this year as well.”
Berry named dad Brent as someone who gave him the work ethic and taught him how to invest in himself to reach his goal of playing college baseball. He also mentioned travel coach Scott Campbell as someone who provided guidance along the way.
“I’m really excited to go down there and give it what I got and help out with their pitching staff,” Berry said. “I feel like I have a good chance to compete right away. I’m sitting in the upper 80s with my fastball velocity and have really good off speed pitches with my change-up and curve ball to keep hitters honest. I feel like I have a really good opportunity to go down there and compete and find myself in the lineup pretty quick.
“I’m looking forward to playing higher level competition.”
Berry plans to study kinesiology and exercise science to possibly become a physical therapist or athletic trainer in the future.
Brewton-Parker competes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics as members of the Southern States Athletic Conference.