A Cape Fear Colt is running roughshod through Major League Baseball's postseason.
Gavin "Big Rig" Williams, a 2017 graduate of Cape Fear High School, is set to start American League Championship Series Game 3 on the mound for the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday, Oct. 15, against the Tampa Bay Rays after a record-setting strikeout performance over the weekend.
Williams struck out 12 batters as the starter in the Guardians' ALDS championship-clinching win over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, just two days after he'd recorded the final three outs in an emergency relief appearance in Game 4.
Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges called Williams' Game 5 performance "what legends are made of."
The lights are brighter now, but that's the same instinct Williams showed less than a decade ago in Vander where his screaming fastball and ability to drop a no-hitter on any night grew legendary.
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After taking a no-hitter into the 9th inning of a win in August of this year, Williams kept his foot on the gas as Cleveland won its third straight AL Central title for a first-round bye and No. 2 seed in the postseason.
The Guardians dropped their first two ALDS games to Chicago before winning three straight, culminating with Williams' 12-K day, which tied a postseason franchise record set by Charles Nagy in 1996.
Along with a dozen strikeouts, Williams gave up just one hit, no runs and two walks in 5⅔ innings against the Sox.
He'll get the ball again Thursday for Game 3 against the Rays (1 p.m., TBS, TruTV) with the series tied 1-1.
"I'm just trying to do my job, give the team the best shot to win," Williams said after his record-setting performance Saturday.
The No. 23 overall selection in the 2021 MLB Draft, Williams is the highest pick ever to come out of Cumberland County and he was called up in 2023 after being named the Guardians' No. 1 prospect by MLB.com.
Williams was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 30th round of the 2017 draft out of high school after posting a 1.06 ERA and pitching three-straight no-hitters with an 18-1 record but he passed on the chance to go pro, opting instead to play at ECU, where he earned All-American and conference pitcher of the year honors with a 10-1 record in his final collegiate season.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Cleveland ace Gavin Williams follows record-setting clincher with start vs Rays