Williams unhittable for RubberDucks

Akron’s Gavin Williams has squared off with Erie three times since he was promoted to Double-A in June. His third outing was his best yet.

Baseball's No. 56 overall prospect Williams threw six hitless innings, striking out four without a walk, as his RubberDucks downed the host SeaWolves, 5-1.

Williams started his day on a roll, retiring the first 10 batters he faced, three via strikeouts. With one gone in the top of the fourth, Erie’s Andrew Navigato reached on a fielding error. He was replaced at first base two batters later when Quincy Nieporte grounded into a fielder’s choice that saw Navigato retired at second.

No other SeaWolves hitter found his way aboard.

After Nieporte reached, Williams settled right back into his groove and set down the final six men he faced, the last four via groundouts. Cleveland's No. 3 prospect threw 76 pitches (50 strikes) and got nine outs on the ground against three in the air.

Erie broke up the no-hit bid in unconventional fashion, when Tigers prospect Parker Meadows greeted RubberDucks reliever Aaron Pinto with a leadoff, inside-the-park home run to open the bottom of the seventh.

Williams opened his year with nine dominant outings for High-A Lake County, posting a 2-1 record and 1.40 ERA while striking out 67 batters and walking just 14 in 45 innings. Those numbers pushed the East Carolina product to Akron, where he first squared off with Erie on July 3. In that outing, Williams allowed one unearned run on four hits over 6 2/3 innings, striking out six without a walk. Three weeks later, he saw the SeaWolves again on July 24 and didn’t fare quite as well, giving up three runs on four hits, including two homers, while taking the loss over six innings.

With his dominant outing on Tuesday, Williams dropped his ERA with Akron to 1.59 through 11 starts.