Music is In His Blood, but Baseball is Still Luke Berryhill's Priority

Luke Berryhill is easy to recognize even when he’s not wearing his South Carolina baseball uniform. Just look for the guy wearing the cowboy hat and carrying the guitar case. Yes, he hits and catches well for the Gamecocks, but he sings and plays guitar pretty well, too, which he hopes could lead to another career whenever his baseball playing days are over.

“After baseball is over, I really want to give it a shot,” Berryhill said. “Maybe I’ll move to Nashville or something. I’m definitely going to give baseball my best shot first, though.  I like older country from the 1980s and ’90s; George Strait and that kind of stuff.”

While the redshirt sophomore’s baseball abilities are becoming well-known to Gamecocks fans, many are becoming aware of the Canton, Ga., native’s other talents after he sang a Garth Brooks tune on the floor of Colonial Life Arena during a home basketball in-game promotion.

“(Director of Operations) Tyson (Lusk) asked if I would do it,” Berryhill said. “I was all for it. They told me a few days ahead of time to get my nerves right singing in front of thousands of people. That was the biggest crowd I ever sang for.”

South Carolina head coach Mark Kingston knows that his student-athletes are more than just ball players, and he was quick to quip that Berryhill brings a little extra to the table than the regular five-tool players that coaches covet.

“When you recruit guys, you try to do as much homework as possible,” Kingston said. “That includes talking to coaches, counselors, and scouts and looking up their social media. We happened to land on his singing on social media, so we did know that was a part of his package. We knew that he was a six-tool player because of that.”

A short Twitter video also showcased the talents of Berryhill, accompanied by the cowboy hat and guitar on the concourse of Founders Park. His music abilities are self-taught as he first picked up the guitar after an injury cut short his freshman season after three games at Georgia Southern, and he needed something to take his mind off of being hurt. However, he did already have a lot of music instilled in him as he was influenced by his father, Larry.

“He sang professionally at a bunch of country clubs in the southeast in the ’90s,” Berryhill said. “He was in bands from when I was little and even now. I was around it my whole life, and I fell in love with it. I saw him play many times; probably thousands of shows. He is definitely the better singer. I’m just trying to catch up.

“I’ve been playing the guitar for about two and a half to three years, and I’ve been singing since I was about 15 or so. When I was 15 I was entered into a talent competition. I told my parents I wanted to sing, and I did it. I did the talent show the next two years and won it in high school. I’ve played guitar in some restaurants around town.”

“The umpires have told me to stop a couple of times. They said it was distracting.”
– Luke  Berryhill

Berryhill left Georgia Southern and transferred to Walters State Community College in Tennessee where he hit .376 with 13 home runs last year. A visit to South Carolina made it an easy to decision to find a place to continue his career.

“This was the first place I visited after I committed to junior college, and it just felt like home to me,” Berryhill said. “This facility (Founders Park) can’t be beat. This is the best facility around, and the coaches were just stand-up men. I did a ton of research before I made my visit, and they seemed like the best coaches around and really good people to learn from.”

Berryhill endeared himself early to South Carolina fans after belting two home runs in a 14-3 victory over rival Clemson.

“I knew (the rivalry) was a huge thing, but I didn’t really understand the magnitude of it until I was in the game and there were all these people screaming their heads off,” Berryhill said. “It was an unbelievable experience.”

While he can’t put the guitar in his bat bag, that doesn’t mean he can’t combine his two interests on game day. Berryhill admits he isn’t shy about singing without the cowboy hat as he’ll carry a tune in games when he’s wearing the catcher’s mask and doing work behind the plate.

“I do if the song between innings is pretty good,” Berryhill said with a laugh. “The umpires have told me to stop a couple of times. They said it was distracting. He’ll get sucked into the song and can’t concentrate. They’ve told me it was good, nonetheless.”

While he hasn’t written his own songs yet, it’s not out of the question for the future.

“I’ve tried, but I don’t put too much into it because baseball and school take up most of my time right now,” Berryhill said. “If I could sing my own walk up song, that would be awesome.”

Berryhill’s current walk up music when he comes to hit at home is WWE wrestler John Cena’s walk out music. So much for George Strait.

Having performed the national anthem previoulsy for his summer league team, don’t be surprised if he asks for a chance to do it before a South Carolina athletics event. Make no mistake, while he has an interest in music a career later in life, Berryhill said he’d rather be known for his baseball abilities, at least for now.

“I’ve put my whole life into this, so I’m going to give it my best shot before anything with music happens,” Berryhill said.  “I just need to be more consistent at the plate and behind the plate.  It’s the same game I’ve been playing since I was little kid, so I’m trying to keep it the same and try to have fun.”