UPDATED: Video added at bottom
#17 Vanderbilt dropped their second straight game to #8 Florida this afternoon, 7-3, but the bigger story concerns the health of reliever Corey Williams. Williams, a Redshirt Freshman who is 1-0 on the season in 12 relief appearances with a 2.65 ERA over 17 innings, took a line drive off the bat of Florida’s Austin Maddox in the bottom of the 7th. Williams reportedly was able to make the play on the ball, but was subsequently carted off.
I was alerted to this story from Vanderbilt Pitcher Sonny Gray’s twitter update that read:
"Tough loss but even tougher seeing a teammate go down.. Please pray for Corey Williams." – @SonnyGray2
Vanderbilt moves to 23-6 (4-4) on the season, while Florida improves to 20-6 (6-2).
8 comments
Mark, Corey was carted off the field, but it was a line drive off the right knee, so not life-threatening like a head injury. He made a remarkable play to recover and flip the ball backhanded all the way to first despite being immobile on the mound. He stayed down for several minutes and then had an air cast put on his leg and was carted off. If I had to guess, I’d say he might have a broken knee cap, because the ball went straight off his knee, but it didn’t deflect that far, indicating it hit joint rather than bone.
Also in the game, Brian Harris (who had 2 HBPs and 2 BBs) took a fastball square in the kisser. Fastball faded directly into his face and he caught it square in the mouth. He didn’t appear to be impacted by it, after a 2 or so minute delay for him to be checked out.
Thanks for the update
FYI, I was right. Unfortunately, Corey has a broken patella (kneecap). I would imagine he’s out until next year. That stinks because he showed tremendous stuff at times.
I wonder if the injury would’ve been as severe if it were a wooden bat
**wood bat rather
I don’t think wood / metal would have made much of a difference. It’s where exactly he was struck that is vulnerable to a crack. In this case, it hit perfectly and with such force that this is the xray they took of his knee:
(courtesy anchorofgold.com)
He obviously split his patella in two and they fear that there is damage to each of the ACL, MCL and Meniscus (AKA, the unhappy triad).
Corey has been a very pleasant surprise this year after taking a redshirt year. Though he hasn’t been lights out, he has a great arm and real pop on the ball. If he’s able to come back from this, I imagine he’ll be a key component of the Vanderbilt bullpen for two or three more years.
I tried to embed the photo of Corey’s XRay. It didn’t work, but you can see it by going to <a href = "http://www.anchorofgold.com/2010/4/4/1404724/corey-williams-badass")AnchorOfGold.com (http://www.anchorofgold.com/2010/4/4/1404724/corey-williams-badass)
After seeing that photo, I’d say taking Sonny Gray’s advice and praying for him wouldn’t be a bad idea. Thanks for the update.
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