DIII Top 10 Pitchers; #7 LHP Elvin Williams, Heidelberg

Name:  Elvin Williams

Position:  LHP

Year:  Sophomore

School:  Heidelberg

Contrary to what you may think, I am actually not Heidelberg SID Morgan Hawley’s personal assistant.  It’s simply a coincidence that half of our top 10 pitchers thus far have been Student Princes.  Well, it’s actually not a coincidence because Heidelberg has a stockpile of quality arms.  The latest to come off the assembly line in Tiffin is sophomore Elvin Williams.

As we covered in our OAC Decade in Review, it wasn’t very long ago that Heidelberg was a doormat in the OAC.  But when Matt Palm took over things changed.  Quickly.  And one of the first things to change was the depth and quality of the Berg pitching staff.  

Young lefty Elvin Williams is the epitome of Heidelberg’s recipe for success.  As a freshman he progressively earned the chance to get the ball in bigger and bigger spots.  Williams’ ascent culminated with just his fourth start of the season coming in an elimination game at the 2009 Mideast regional.  He responded by surrendering just one earned run in 6.1 innings to Adrian.  Oh by the way, the game was at Adrian to boot.  Sadly this tale didn’t have a happy ending as Adrian bested Heidelberg 3-1, but that does little to take away from Williams’ performance.

The Euclid native’s regional start came on the heels of his stellar effort in the OAC Championship game.  If my math is correct, that would have been Williams’ third start of this season, this one coming against the vaunted Etta Express.  The underclassman made it known that he was a big game pitcher by hurling seven innings allowing only a single tally in the third.  It’s a positive sign for a freshman to throw well in the OAC tournament.  It’s a great sign to hand the ball to a freshman in the clinching game against a regional power and have him come through.

In case you haven’t noticed, we here at BSB like to look at numbers.  This works out well since we cover baseball and most baseball fans are conditioned to study stats like they’re trying to break a code.  When I looked at Elvin Williams’ numbers from his freshman campaign I saw a couple things that I thought warranted mentioning.

First, I immediately saw something that caused me to do a double take.  That something was Williams’ opponents’ batting average.  Finishing the season with a miniscule .204 opponents’ batting average, Williams barely trailed All-American closer Andy Lowe (.191) for the team lead.  If I’m a Berg fan I am unquestionably smiling about this fact.

Second, after posting a 5-1 record with a 1.83 ERA in 2009 there is actually room for Williams to somehow improve.  A terrifying thought for OAC coaches, but it’s true.  Williams handed out 25 free passes (18 BB, 7 HBP) in 44.1 innings.  Given the fact that hitters have next to no success hitting him, if Williams can cut down on putting people on base he could be even more dominant.  The thought of that is truly frightening.

While Matt Palm has numerous options at his disposal, we believe that Elvin Williams will join Brian Koehl as the pitchers to step up in the rotation for Heidelberg.  The bad news for the rest of the Mideast region is that those two represent only a portion of the depth that has propelled Heidelberg to the ranks of the nation’s best DIII teams.

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