TCU Baseball Senior Sendoff: Evan Williams

Evan Williams came to TCU after playing two seasons at McLennan College in *whispers* Waco, where he was a two-time first-team all-conference performer. That earns him a little extra love from me because my father actually played a season at McLennan. But don’t worry, he left Waco as soon as he could.

In Evan Williams’ first season at TCU, 2015, he was a junior. He made three starts as a left fielder and 21 appearances on the season. Most of the time he was called on to come into the game as a pinch hitter, but he also saw time as a defensive replacement and a pinch runner. He batted .350 that season, which led all bench players, and produced a .458 on-base percentage.

It was also in that season that he had his own special moment as part of one of TCU’s legendary post-season performances. In game seven of the 2015 Fort Worth Regional against NC State, he entered the game in the top half of the 10th inning as a defensive replacement in left field with the score tied. He led off the bottom of that inning with a single and ended up scoring the winning run on a single from Elliott Barzilli.

Of course that game was legendary because TCU trailed 8-1 with two outs left in the eighth inning. The Frogs managed to score six runs on two hits before the eighth inning was over thanks to three errors by NC State, amongst other mistakes. In the ninth they scored one more to tie things up and set up Williams and Barzilli’s heroics in the 10th that clinched the regional for the Frogs. A short, and very funny, recap of that action can be found here.

In 2016 Evan was forced to take a medical redshirt, as he was involved in a car accident on his way down to San Antonio over Christmas break to watch the TCU football team play in the Alamo Bowl. Everyone in the Frog family was sad to hear that Evan had to go through that, and we’re all glad that he was able to come back and play his senior year.

In 2017 Evan came back to play a bigger role than ever before. He started 10 games and appeared in 31. Most of his starts came early on in the season, as he was one of the go-to guys to DH when Luken Baker was playing first base. Later in the season, when Nolan Brown was knocked out of the Big 12 Tournament after being involved in a collision, Evan Williams started in right field as Austen Wade moved over into center. Williams played well in the tournament, contributing a few hits and a couple of RBIs as TCU attempted to make a run out of the loser’s bracket in that tournament.

Williams also made an appearance as a pinch-hitter in TCU’s 3-0 loss to Florida (the first one) in the College World Series. Thanks for the memories, Evan. You’ll always be part of the Frog family.