The baseball diamond at Appomattox County High School (ACHS) will appear a bit different when the varsity Raiders take the field — not only because of the upgrades to the backstop area — but because it is the first time since 2001 that Joe Caruso won’t be the team’s head coach.

Caruso, who led the Raiders to their first-ever state championship in 2022, stepped down after 23 seasons at the helm of the ship following the 2023 season. He cited several reasons for the decision, one being a heavy workload that includes his full-time career as a certified field inspector at JES Foundation Repair (formerly Evergreen Basement Systems when Caruso started 16 years ago).

“It’s increasingly difficult to balance the work and baseball…You try to stretch it out as much as you can but it becomes hard,” Caruso said. “It’s a huge commitment to do everything and it’s not just out here (on the baseball field). If it was just out here and you step on the field and coach during the game, that’s easy. But it’s having to be out here every single day for practice, and as the head coach I felt that I had to be that. So, that was really hard from the work standpoint.”

Spending more time with family is another reason Caruso stepped down. The new addition to the family, as of last year, is a granddaughter by his son Dylan and daughter-in-law Laura.

Caruso’s other son, Alex, a 2023 graduate of ACHS, is now playing baseball as a pitcher for Hampden-Sydney College. So, time away from the commitment of coaching allows more opportunity to attend games.

Dylan, who is the Raiders’ junior varsity head coach, graduated from ACHS in 2012 and went on to pitch at Longwood University. The baseball bond between Brooklyn-born Caruso and his sons has been an important connection in their relationship.

“Being able to share it with your family — that’s why I think baseball was always a game, to me, that was passed down between the older generations,” he said. “It’s almost like folklore. I still tell them about trips I made to Yankee Stadium when I was a kid and stuff like that. So, the fact that they enjoy it as much as they do is great, and we all do as a family.”

Caruso credits his wife Beth for her steadfast support of his coaching career, and appreciates the sacrifices she’s made over the years.

“A huge part of this is my wife being as supportive as she was…for every spring doing what she did, getting stuff ready for me in the background, absolutely she deserves as much credit as anyone for all of this,” he said.

Joe and Beth Caruso met while he was playing minor league baseball for the Lynchburg Red Sox (now Hillcats) after being selected by their major league affiliate, the Boston Red Sox, in the 1991 draft. Beth is from Appomattox. Joe was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., but his family moved to Northern California when he was 15 years old.

Caruso was originally drafted out of high school by the Texas Rangers but chose to enroll at Loyola Marymount University, where he received a scholarship as a pitcher. After three seasons in college, he took his shot at a potential major league baseball career. He played minor league ball from 1991-94 and reached the AAA level. He made Boston’s 40-man roster but never appeared in the big leagues. Although he later signed a minor league free agent contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he refused an assignment back down to the single A level.

There’s more to this in the current issue of the Times Virginian newspaper. Support local journalism by purchasing the issue at a local newsstand or subscribing at www.timesvirginian.com/subscriber_services to receive the print edition or view the full article in the e-edition version.