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Sixth-year Scarlet
Raptor head baseball coach Keith Williams has been named to the position
of Assistant Director of Recreational Services at Rutgers-Camden. In his
new full-time role, Williams will be in charge of the school’s
recreation and intramural programs, and will also assume scheduling and
maintenance responsibilities for the University’s fields and facilities.
Williams took over the Rutgers-Camden baseball program in 1999, and has
built the team from an also-ran into one of the top contenders in the
rugged New Jersey Athletic Conference.
Last season the Scarlet Raptors posted a 21-16 record and their third
straight winning season and took the program to a new level with their
first post-season championship. Rutgers-Camden ended its season by
winning the ECAC Metro Baseball Championship with a 5-0 victory over FDU-Florham
on May 11.
Williams’ 2002 team turned the program around, shattering nearly every
school record while steamrolling its way to a 32-10 record. That was 11
more victories than the previous school mark set by the 2001 club, which
went 21-15.
Along the way, the Scarlet Raptors won their first 17 games, easily
setting a school record for consecutive victories and found themselves
in previously-uncharted territory by reaching the American Baseball
Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball Division III national
poll. The Raptors made their debut in the poll at No. 23 on March 25,
and peaked at No. 19 on April 8.
The Raptors’ success led to their first berth in the NJAC playoffs since
the top four-team format was adopted in 1990. The only previous trip to
the NJAC playoffs came in 1987 when the team finished second in the
Southern Division to reach the tournament.
Not only did the 2002 Scarlet Raptors post their first NJAC playoff
victory ever with a 9-8 10-inning win over William Paterson on May 5,
but they also qualified for the first ECAC Metro Tournament berth in
school history.
All those accomplishments led to a host of post-season honors for
Williams, who was named the NJAC Coach of the Year and was one of five
men honored as the New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association Div.
II/III Coaches of the Year.
Williams also was named the Rutgers-Camden Coach of the Year at the
University’s 2002 athletic banquet.
A 1987 graduate of
Bishop
Eustace High School, Williams played baseball, soccer and basketball for
the Crusaders, earning All-Parochial honors in baseball. He continued
his education and baseball career at Catholic University of America in
Washington, D.C. He was a four-year starter and a team captain in
baseball. He graduated in 1991 with a Bachelors degree in Biomedical
Engineering.
A Haddon
Township
resident, Williams received his Master of Science in Administration,
Sports
and Recreation from
West Chester University in August, 2003. |