A lot of zeroes were compiled on Darren Williams’ stat line in what was the early part of the college baseball season.
For his position that’s a good thing.
The Eastern Kentucky University junior reliever hadn’t allowed a run in five appearances and six innings pitched, striking out 10 of the 23 batters he faced, helping the Colonels off to a 12-2 start that included a win over nationally ranked LSU on the Tigers home field.
Williams started to really gain confidence as he was one of the closers out of the bullpen, hopeful that him and the Colonels were on their way to an Ohio Valley Conference championship and a shot at playing in the NCAA Tournament.
That’s all now a “what if” with the Coronavirus pandemic canceling the rest of the 2020 season.
“It’s hard right now to think what we could have been, wanting to accomplish the goals we had set in place…winning 40-plus games, winning the OVC. It’s tough it ended the way it did,” Williams said.
After graduating from Mason County in 2016, Williams redshirted his freshman season, which can now be seen as a blessing in disguise. While Williams and other NCAA athletes across the country await word on if they’ll be granted an extra year of eligibility, he knows he’ll at least have one more season to prove his worth.
His worth on the Colonels keeps growing and with that MLB scouts might start taking notice.
“I thought I was in a good position for that this year,” Williams said on the possibility of being drafted. “My numbers and velocity were looking good. I talked with my coaches about it. But at a smaller school as a closer, you have to have a good game and perform in front of scouts. Scouts aren’t coming to a cold February game against Siena. Come April and May they would have been out there.”
One game where Williams got to prove himself was against LSU on February 21, coming on in the eighth and ninth inning against the No. 11 team in the country at the time. The experience itself was something Williams had never witnessed.
“Going out there for the ninth inning against one of the top teams in the country…that’s something I’ll never forget,” Williams said. “It’s a different baseball experience down there. You’ve got over 1,000 people tailgating, watching batting practice, people yelling at you while warming up in the bullpen.”
That game gave Williams a big league feel and a longshot possibility of what could come down the road. Williams did his job in that game, helping secure a 2-0 victory over the Tigers as he pitched a scoreless inning.
As he matures and confidence continues to grow, Williams will now be faced with what every other athlete is facing — self motivation to get better. As I was talking to Williams on Wednesday, he was getting some work in at the indoor facility at EKU.
“That redshirt is looking good right about now. I want to play baseball as long as possible. These next few months could determine the future of baseball over the next five years and who takes advantage of this time,” Williams said. “I’ll be throwing, doing long toss a few days a week. We’ve never really been in a situation where you’re not playing a game for possibly 11 months. You can’t dwell on it, you just have to get better.”
Williams said he was set to go play in the Cape Cod League this summer, one of the premier leagues an amateur can play in during the offseason. That is looking iffy at the moment if it will happen.
While he works on his craft on the mound, Williams will be getting his Bachelor’s Degree in May in economics and depending on what eligibility he has left, he’s looking at getting a Master’s degree in either sports administration or business administration.
If baseball doesn’t end up working out, his goal is to eventually work in a baseball front office, whether it be scouting, developing or crunching numbers.
He’ll hope to continue crunching up low numbers on the bump at EKU, getting at least one more year to do so.
