St. James honor fallen teammate Carroll

St. James pitcher Carter Carroll passed away on Jan. 20 from a hunting accident. (File Photo)

By TIM GAYLE

St. James coaches plan to honor senior Carter Carroll, who passed away on Jan. 20, starting with the 2024 baseball season that opens in two weeks.

Carroll passed away in a hunting accident on Jan. 20. Services were held for the popular Trojan senior on Jan. 26, but school administrators asked for privacy in the aftermath of his tragic death. 

Coaches and administrators met with the media on Friday morning to talk about Carroll for the first time since his death. Trojan baseball coach Keith Lucky had perhaps the best story, describing how his starting shortstop gave up his position last spring to move to third base to solidify the infield.

“Carter came to me because he knew we could solidify our defense by moving him to third and bringing in Ethan (Beard) at shortstop,” Lucky said. “That’s the kind of kid he was. He was a great baseball player. He had played since the seventh grade. His biggest attribute was how he was a teammate and a leader who led by example. I can’t remember anybody ever saying anything bad about Carter. He’s one of those guys who treated everybody the way you’d want to be treated.”

Carroll was designated as the Trojans’ ace pitcher this spring as well as the starting shortstop. Various tributes are planned to honor the senior throughout the year, starting at the Feb. 15 season opener against Beauregard. 

“We’re going to honor him all through the year,” Lucky said. “I know you’ve noticed the light blue and baby blue stuff a lot of the kids are wearing now. That was his favorite color and we’ll have some stuff on our uniform commemorating him. We’ve got some other things that we’ve got to finalize for Senior Day.”

Last year, Carroll and his teammates led the Trojans to the semifinals of the state playoffs, their best showing since winning the 2006 state championship. Carroll, an honorable mention all-Capital City Conference selection last year, was the top returning pitcher and infielder for the Trojans this season. 

“He was the man,” Lucky said. “He was our number one pitcher coming into the season, our shortstop, our leader. He was a senior. It always seems like it’s a different game for those kids when they get older and he was stronger. Football had helped him out, being in the weight room and being in that team setting. We were expecting great things out of him.”

Carroll returned to the gridiron last season as a receiver and safety for the Trojans after a two-year absence and head coach Neal Posey said there were plans to pay tribute to Carroll. 

“We will this fall,” Posey said. “We’ve got a couple of ideas. We just want to figure out the best way to honor him. He was such a great kid, always happy, always bringing jokes and smiles into the room. He took the 10th and 11th grades off from football to concentrate on his love, which was baseball. He got better in baseball, was going to have an opportunity to play at the next level and came to me before his senior year and said, ‘Coach, I’d love to play football again if you’d have me.’ I said, ‘Of course, I would love to have you on the team.’”

Posey remembers Carroll as a talented athlete who provided depth at receiver late in the season, even catching a touchdown pass from KJ Jackson against Sumter Central. Lucky recalled a solid pitching performance in the last game of the 2023 season against Houston Academy. Both coaches spoke of an unselfish player who always thought of others and put the team first.

“He was one heck of a shortstop,” Lucky said. “But we needed to solidify some other things on the infield and the opportunity was there for him to play third base, which he had played the year before. He actually asked to move over there. That’s why all the kids loved him.”