Clemson baseball makes big splash with five signees from Midlands
Ricky Williams and Alex Urban have played a lot of baseball together.
The two River Bluff seniors played together several years in Little League Baseball and were a part of the Gators Baseball program for the past six years. Now, the duo will play together again as they signed their National Letters of Intent on Wednesday to play for Clemson.
“It has always been a good friendship. We have been close throughout the years, both on and off the baseball field,” Williams said. “I think as my move along, we will be even closer, just to spend those days in college together playing ball.”
Williams and Urban grew up cheering for South Carolina but will turn in their garnet for orange. The two probably will room together when they arrive on campus in the summer.
“Ricky is a kid I grew up playing with, playing against when I was younger so it was really cool to end up playing at the same place.“The Clemson program is amazing as well,” Urban said. “Level of play we have in this area and so many kids growing up as Carolina’s fans now going to play at Clemson just because how good of a coach that Coach Lee is and how good the program is going.”
Williams and Urban are part of a large contingent from the Midlands set to be part of Clemson’s Class of 2020. Dutch Fork’s Ty Olenchuk, Blythewood’s Landon Lucas and Braison Bourne also signed to play for Monte Lee and the Tigers on Wednesday.
The five players are part of the Tigers’ signing class, which is ranked No. 13 by Baseball America.
Williams and Olenchuk, who also is a standout quarterback at Dutch Fork, committed to Clemson after their freshman seasons while Urban committed a year later. Bourne and Lucas didn’t commit until the fall.
The Tigers started to show more interest in Bourne after seeing him play in the South Atlantic Border Battle in September. The Battle features some of the top baseball players in the Southeast.
“The whole process was kind of hard with me not being the biggest kid and having to work very hard,” Bourne said. “But them (Clemson) coming to me after the Border Battle and then I got to go visit. It was one of the best experiences I had at a college and that really persuaded me.”
The five players have a strong bond with each other, playing either youth baseball or travel ball. They spent most of their high school careers battling against each other.
Lucas and Olenchuk battled it out against each other in the Class 5A state championship that was won by Dutch Fork. The two plan to room together in college.
“I am just excited. I know them real well and they know me. We just have fun with each other We are all in-state so we are all close and we are good at baseball,” Lucas said. “It is a big deal to get the in-state guys. Out of state is cool and all but in-state is more special. As a kid, I always wanted to play at a Division I school like Clemson.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 3:57 PM.
