Photo via UK Athletics
Dub's Last Stand: Darren Williams Looks to Close Seven-Year College Career in Style
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Darren Williams is kind of old.
If you talked to his teammates, you'd think he's a senile graybeard who spends his days loitering at the local bingo hall, chewing on Werther's Originals while reminiscing about his glory days as a baseball player.
In reality, he's a spry 25-year-old who's still living out those glory days and is on the verge of closing out one of the most unique college careers of all time.
When the Maysville, Ky. native graduated from Mason County High School in 2016, he expected to be a successful right-handed pitcher in the year 2023. He just didn't think that he would still, somehow, be in college.
Sure enough, a redshirt, worldwide pandemic and career-altering injury have combined to create a seven-year path, which has led Williams through peaks and valleys, ultimately creating one of the most memorable figures to ever grace the mound in a University of Kentucky uniform.
His seventh and final season is on track to finish as one of, if not his best campaign on the bump. in 13 appearances spanning 52.1 innings, 'Dub' owns a 4-1 record and a 3.96 ERA — a top-15 mark in the SEC. Opponents are hitting a measly .216 and have struck out 50 times while drawing only 21 walks.
To understand why this season has been so special, though, you have to go back to the beginning.
Williams and his family were a few of the 34,930 fans in attendance at Great American Ball Park on the night of June 30, 2006, when the Reds and Cleveland Indians squared off in a game that would spark Williams' love for the sport.
The Reds trailed 7-0 in the eighth inning, but began to mount a comeback, scoring four runs in the frame, thanks to home runs from Juan Castro and Lexington native Austin Kearns.
The Indians scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth, but Kearns then started a last-ditch rally with a single. Eventually, the bases found themselves loaded with two outs and the Reds down three runs. Up to the plate stepped Reds Hall of Famer Adam Dunn.
After taking a first-pitch ball from Cleveland reliever Bob Wickman, Dunn ripped a fastball down the right-field line. The frozen rope stayed just high enough to clear the wall and drop into the Indians' bullpen for a game-winning grand slam.
Williams stood up from his seat along the first-base line as the big lefty rounded the bases to the tune of roaring fans and fireworks.
"I fell in love with the game that night," he said.
That love led to a goal: Play professionally. Williams excelled as a two-sport athlete for Mason County, and even though he has a 12-point, six-rebound, four-block and three-steal performance inside Rupp Arena at the 2016 Boys State Basketball Tournament under his belt, baseball has always been at the top of the list.
Eventually, he graduated high school and made the hour-and-a-half trek from Maysville down to Richmond, Ky. to play for Eastern Kentucky University. After redshirting his freshman season in 2017, Williams went on to play four seasons as a Colonel.
He excelled in 2021, making 15 appearances, 13 of which were starts. He hurled 83.1 innings and struck out 92 batters, leading to a 4.10 ERA and Second-Team All-Ohio Valley Conference honors.
With a redshirt and an extra COVID year of eligibility in his back pocket, Williams saw an opportunity arise. Before long, he was transferring to the University of Kentucky ahead of the 2022 season, in what he thought would be one last ride.
Finally pitching for the school he grew up a diehard fan of, Williams was making the most of the opportunity, and then some. After seven relief appearances that saw only one earned run, 20 strikeouts and five walks, head coach Nick Mingione and pitching coach Dan Roszel opted to move him into the starting rotation.
His second start came at home against Ole Miss — the eventual National Champion that season. After surrendering two runs in the top of the first, Williams settled in and allowed just one hit through the next five innings. After working a one-two-three sixth inning, he still had gas in the tank.
Unfortunately, his elbow did not.
Pitching amidst a brisk April afternoon, the righty was wearing a jacket while in the dugout. UK had just taken a 3-2 lead as he took his jacket off over his head to go out and pitch the seventh. His pinky finger slapped the dugout bench, causing an immediate sensation that shot up his right arm.
"I guess it was just hanging on by a thread and just snapped right there," Williams said of his Ulnar Collateral ligament.
In the moment, he thought his arm had just spazzed. He still returned to the mound and threw a few pitches, even recording an out, but something wasn't right. Williams has never thrown the ball hard, but his fastball was all of a sudden topping out at 82 mph.
He was pulled from the game, but even then wasn't fully convinced that something was really wrong. He then did UCL tests in the tunnel with trainers, thinking that it was just muscle tightness. An MRI would soon prove otherwise.
Williams was sitting in former head trainer Josh Walker's office when he heard for the first time that he needed surgery:
"Really emotional, really tough. Especially because of the year I was having to that point," Williams recalled. "You finally get to your dream school and you're playing really well in the SEC and you love the team ... it wasn't just a blow to me. It was a blow to the whole team. It was a really tough time."
A six-year career that was culminating in fairytale fashion was instead shot down by a catastrophic injury — an unfortunate tale that has become all-too common in the baseball world.
Mingione wasn't willing to let 2022 be the final chapter, however. How about one more year? Is it even possible?
"As soon as it happened, my immediate thought was, 'okay, is there a chance? Where are we with the NCAA rules? Is this guy going to be able to have another season?' So before I could do anything, that was the first thing — I got compliance on the phone," Mingione said.
Luckily, there was still time on the clock. The injury occurred early enough in the year that Williams was going to be granted a seventh season by the NCAA.
It didn't take long for him to make up his mind. He was willing to do whatever it took for a second season as a Wildcat, which proceeded to include months and months of rehab to get his elbow back in pitching shape.
"I remember a lot of forearm wrist curls, stretching, grabbing putty, really tedious, small exercises that are simple to do," Williams said. "Doing those repetitively every single day all summer long. It wasn't fun at all, but it was worth it to get through that."
Four months after surgery, he was playing catch. Eventually, making it back on the mound in time for the start of the 2023 season became the goal — one he accomplished.
On Feb. 17, Williams pitched 3.0 hitless innings, striking out seven at Latham Park in Elon, N.C. against the Elon Phoenix on Opening Day. It was the start of an 11-inning run that witnessed only one hit allowed, kicking off his super-duper senior season with a bang.
This season hasn't been perfect for Williams, however. As fantastic as the beginning of the year was, he was still a pitcher that was just months removed from being on the operating table. As the pitches have piled up, his arm has been quick to remind him of that.
He recalls a four-week stretch from the end of March to the middle of April — where Kentucky played three SEC series on the road — being an especially difficult time.
"My arm was knotted up every single time going out there," he confessed. "Just had to go through it and try to get us a couple of innings, just to put us in positions to win."
Williams pitched all four weekends, totaling 17.0 innings in four appearances. The Wildcats went 4-0 in those games. He wasn't lights-out like he was in the beginning of the season, but he still managed to help get his team over the hump, by any means necessary.
"You got to battle through that. You got to make adjustments on the mound and you got to pitch through it no matter what. Just gotta be tough and go out there and get outs," he said. "Frankly, it's just been tough."
It's never been about personal success and accolades for Williams. Sure, being recognized for your hard work and performances is great, but he's got a much bigger goal in mind.
"I have been the best pitcher on bad teams before in college. My goal this year was obviously to come back, but my goal was for our team to be really good," he said. "I want to play in a regional, i've never gotten to do that. More than anything, our team success has been on the forefront of my goals this season."
The last time Kentucky made an NCAA Tournament was in 2017, when Williams was redshirting in his first season at EKU. He watched as Louisville defeated the Cats in the Super Regional, ending their run.
Now, he's a part of the 2023 Cats who'll enter the postseason with a 36-17 record, the program's best mark since that very 2017 team. UK is a lock to make the tournament and is projected to be a Regional host.
Williams perhaps solidified that on Senior Night, when he took the mound at Kentucky Proud Park on May 19 and struck out the side in the top of the ninth, finishing a win against a top-five Florida team for UK's 16th SEC win of the season.
"Went out there and just attacked," he said of the performance. "That's probably why I was so excited coming off the mound, because the whole week — we know we're in. We want to host a Regional in Lexington and we want to break that barrier down and host the first one at KPP, so that's a big one."
While it was hilariously Williams' third Senior Night of his career, there couldn't have been a more fitting moment. A few thousand fans roared as he celebrated the victory with his teammates, just like he and his family did when Dunn and the Reds claimed victory that night in Cincinnati 17 years ago.
"How could Dub not just embrace that? If there was ever a guy that deserved that moment, right there on Senior Day, it was Darren Williams," Mingione said with a smile.
"That's why you work hard all of last summer, coming back from rehab...for moments like that. That's what you dream of," Williams said.
Williams isn't planning on that being his final memorable moment, though. He's got one final postseason to pitch in, which he hopes concludes at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha at the College World Series.
He'll leave his college days with a degree in economics and an MBA graduate certificate in statistics, not to mention a full bank of memories on the diamond. And yes, of course he would do it all over again:
"Without a doubt. I've made some lifelong friends, I got friends from every corner of the country. And I've met so many amazing people in the last seven years. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world," he said. "I'm not too worried about getting a job somewhere or building an unbelievable career somewhere else. Right now i'm chasing my dream of winning a national championship — playing professionally, wherever that might be. Just living it one day at a time."
Williams and the Cats will begin their postseason run on Tuesday, May 23 at the SEC Tournament, with the NCAA Tournament beginning the following week. Regardless of whatever happens from there, the real final chapter has been a harmonious one.
"I just want to be able to say that I gave it my all every single day, coming to practice, lifts, team meetings, if I'm starting a game or closing the game, whatever we need. Hopefully I give it my all, I don't want to look back and have any regrets," he said. I'm at peace with my career."
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