DATE: Sunday, April 27, 1997                TAG: 9704250232

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 16   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CHIC RIEBEL, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   96 lines

EXPENSIVE DECISION PAYING OFF FOR EX-LAKELAND BASEBALL PLAYER

How badly did Geoff Williams want to play college baseball?

Badly enough to shell out more than $18,000 for a guarantee that he'd see significant playing time as a freshman.

Williams, an All-Bay Rivers District catcher at Lakeland last year, decided to pay the price when he chose Shenandoah University over Christopher Newport University just as school was about to start.

Although Williams is ``going to be paying off loans forever,'' the move has paid off. He is enjoying one of the most spectacular seasons of any Dixie Conference freshman. Through Wednesday, Williams had started every one of the Hornets' 33 games and was batting .370 with 13 doubles, three triples, three home runs and 33 runs scored. He was also on pace to break single-season school records for hits and doubles.

Both CNU and Shenandoah are members of the Dixie Conference, considered the premier Division III baseball league in the country. But that's where the similarities ended in price tag and opportunity.

Williams could have lived at CNU for about half the cost of going to Shenandoah - located four hours away in Winchester - but he would have been just another incoming freshman. At Shenandoah, first-year head coach Paul O'Neill, who took over a program that had only seven returning players when he accepted the job on Aug. 1, was able to make Williams an offer he couldn't refuse.

``Coach O'Neill promised me plenty of playing time,'' said Williams, who did not attract much attention from recruiters despite batting .464 as a senior and playing for Suffolk's Palomino World Series championship team.

Not that Williams didn't swallow hard when O'Neill informed him that room, board and tuition at Shenandoah was $17,900 and that he could expect to pay another $400-$500 for books. Worse, there were no financial grants available.

Before he committed to anything, Williams talked it over with his father, David, an insurance salesman who had coached him from the time he started playing through Palomino League ball last summer.

``My dad told me that he believed in me and that it was my decision,'' said Williams. ``He said even though it was a lot of money, that we'd find it somehow if this is what I really wanted to do. He said he'd pay until the day he died if he had to.''

O'Neill was thrilled with Williams' decision.

``Geoff's got the potential to be a great player,'' said the Shenandoah coach. ``He's been a tremendous hitter. He's got an arrogance about him that he's better than the pitchers. He wants to hit every ball hard. When he learns how to be more patient and take the ball the other way, he's going to have quite a package.

``He's done a tremendous job for us. If Geoff was an outfielder instead of a shortstop, he'd be all-conference this year.''

Outfielder? Shortstop? Wasn't Williams a catcher all of his life?

``Coach O'Neill thought I was too small to be a catcher,'' said Williams, who might approach the 5-feet-9 he is listed on the roster if he were standing on the plate in spikes.

``When I went to Shenandoah, I thought I was going to be an outfielder. But when practice started, it was like a Little League tryout. Coach said, `You go there. Now go over there.' He tried everybody at every position. All of a sudden one day, I was a shortstop.

``It was ugly, too . . . it seemed like I had hands of steel . . . the footwork was so different from catching. . . . Here I was trying to make the adjustment to college ball and I was also learning a new position. It was very frustrating.''

Although Williams has made 24 errors at shortstop, O'Neill said Williams never looked as bad it sounds.

``Any other guy I have would have made 50 errors by now,'' he said. ``He's come a long way and he's only going to get better.''

The only question that remains is where Williams is going to get better.

``It's been a great year and I really like Coach O'Neill, but I just don't know if I can afford to continue going to Shenandoah,'' said Williams. ``I've expressed my concerns about the money to Coach O'Neill.''

In other words, a transfer is a real possibility. Unlike football and basketball players, college baseball players can make one transfer without sitting out a season. Surely, some schools will be interested in a guy with a 2.5 grade-point-average, a .370 batting average and sub-7.0 speed in the 60. Maybe even a Division II or I team.

O'Neill, of course, is going to do everything he can to keep Williams.

``I love the kid to death,'' he said. ``He's the kind of guy I want to build my program around. I understand the money part of this, but a private college like Shenandoah has a lot to offer a kid academically. We're going to be able to get him a better financial package this year and I don't care where you go to school, student loans are a way of life. Heck, I just got mine paid off.

``From a baseball standpoint, I'd never try to hold Geoff or any other kid back if they could play Division I or II ball, but sometimes the grass isn't always greener someplace else. He could transfer to another school and wind up not getting to play.

``And if he has any thoughts of playing professionally, he can be groomed to do that in the Dixie.''

Williams seems to already have a handle on everything his coach is telling him. But the bottom line may in fact be the bottom line.

``I want to play baseball,'' he said. ``But I need to play at a place that I can afford to go to school.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Geoff Williams

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu