The huge crowd of supporters that showed up to cheer on Gavin Williams in his major league pitching debut with the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday night included one backer who had more than a family-and-friend interest.
Derick Graham helped lead Hoke County High School to the state 4-A baseball championship in 1990 as a star player for the Bucks. He spent three years in the Cincinnati Reds minor league organization and for years has operated Athlete’s Choice Batting Center in Fayetteville.
Among his many clients over the years was a young Gavin Williams, long before the future Cape Fear High School and East Carolina University pitching great began making headlines.
Graham said he was overjoyed earlier this week when Williams got the call to join the Cleveland pitching staff. In his first start for the Guardians on Wednesday night, Williams earned a no decision. He went 52/3 innings, giving up four runs, three of them on a homer by Ryan Noda.
But he quickly regrouped and set down 11 of the last 13 batters he faced without allowing a hit.
That comeback was not a shock to Graham, who has spent years schooling Williams in pitching, defense, hitting and the mental side of the game.
“Playing high-level travel ball over the years has prepared him for the big stage,” Graham said. “Last night, I didn’t see anything that could rattle him. After he gave up the three-run homer, he said, all right, next pitch.”
Graham said homers like the one Williams allowed are part of the game, adding the game is bigger than a single situation.
“He definitely bounced back because he’s been through it before,” Graham said. “Playing at East Carolina, he experienced times where he made a mistake. Mental toughness was instilled in him at an early age. He continued to grow.”
Graham has no doubt that Williams, along with his 100-mph fastball and assortment of complementary pitches, will keep growing into a key part of the Guardians pitching staff.
The key, Graham said, will be for Williams to keep pounding the strike zone.
“One thing you see at AA and AAA, most guys will swing at pitches out of the zone a little bit. That major league hitter, they have a pretty good eye for that zone.
“Just commanding his fastball in and out of the zone will make him a force to be reckoned with in the years to come in the Cleveland organization.”
Earl’s pearls
The N.C. High School Athletic Association was beginning to phase out slow-pitch in the early 1990s in favor of fast-pitch, which was more popular nationally and took over completely in the late 1990s.
Spurred on by the motto “Heart makes it happen” from a hit song by the late Kenny Rogers, Coach Eddie Dees’ Tigers surged to a 27-1 record, the only defeat coming in the 13th game of the season by a 12-10 score at home to perennial 4-A power Richmond Senior.
The Tigers got a break in the state playoffs, playing all but one postseason game at home, including the best-of-three title series with Hickory.
Their closest postseason win was 5-4 over Hickory in the first game of the state finals. Yexenia Ugarte, MVP of the title series, was a defensive whiz against Hickory. Kim Johnson crushed a game-winning solo homer in the seventh.
The next day, the Tigers exploded for six runs in their first at bat and cruised to a 10-4 win and the title.
Jessie Marsh, starting outfielder and a sophomore that year, said the whole season was amazing.
“Once we stepped on the field, it was like we were in our own little bubble,” she said. “We had this bond of a love for the game, a love for each other.”
In the middle of it all was Dees, part coach, part philosopher, all softball.
He was also a gifted communicator.
“If you got tagged out running to third when he told you not to run, he’d turn his hat sideways and make this funny face,” Marsh said. “You knew without him screaming at you that’s not something you would do again.”
Marsh said she still remembers teammate Heather Dawson making the catch for the final out that sealed the win, followed by celebrating with her in the outfield.
“We were a bunch of girls full of heart, and we knew what we wanted to do,” Marsh said. “We just wanted to do what Mr. Dees taught us to do.”
Follow Earl Vaughan Jr. on Twitter: @EarlVaughanJr
