TAMPA, Fla. – The opportunity to play at the University of Tampa in front of family and friends greatly appealed to Odessa native and Gaither High product Jordan Williams. A chance to appear in a fourth College World Series was alluring as well.
“I thought about it when I first landed on campus,” said Williams, who twice played for all the glory with San Jacinto (Texas) College in the JUCO ranks and once with Florida State, coming up short each time. “Tampa always has a chance because of such a winning tradition, which was attractive to me.”
Williams and the top-ranked Spartans will once again descend upon the Raleigh, N.C. suburb of Cary and begin defense of their national championship against No. 8 Felician University of Rutherford, N.J on Saturday at 6 p.m. A successful trip would mean the tenth title in program history.
The Spartans (49-8) got to this point by hosting and winning the four-team South Regional and then hosting and sweeping West Florida in the Super Regional. It is a team that has 19 new players, which coach Joe Urso said needed a little time to come together, to get to know each other and bond like many of his great teams have done during his 24 years at the helm. Indeed, this is a special time.
“These last couple of weeks have been something I have never seen before, and that is the whole team bought in on one goal,” said pitcher and FAU transfer C.J. Williams, no relation to Jordan, though related by the brotherhood that is consistently on display at UT. “It took us a little bit to figure out because of so many guys coming from different programs and being used to doing things differently. It was learning to be family, which is such a big thing with Coach Urso.”
READ: Choosing USF Resulted In Jake Peacock Experiencing ‘The Best Three Years Of My Life’
The righthander, who pitched against USF when he was at FAU, has certainly done his part in winning Sunshine State Conference pitcher of the year honors. Williams enters the World Series 13-3 with a 2.73 ERA.
“I am very grateful for the honor,” he said. “I set goals and started off the year struggling. I did not pitch well my first couple of outings and took a couple of more outings to get my confidence.”
Jordan Williams certainly has plenty of confidence, especially on the basepaths where he leads the NCAA (all divisions) with a UT-record 74 stolen bases. He is also hitting .363 with a 1.111 OPS while showing off the tools he had little chance to at Florida State where he had only 62 at-bats in two seasons. It was an experience that nonetheless led to his success this year.
“You always have high goals for yourself and we talked about the (school’s) stolen base record,” he said, noting that he arrived at UT thanks in large part to Seminoles coach Link Jarrett connecting him with Urso. “It is surreal to actually see it happen and make those goals and dreams come true.”
Plenty more can come true in Cary this weekend.
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Connect with us: Follow the Tampa Free Press on Facebook and Twitter for breaking news and updates.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox.
