Loras Baseball assistant Jay Williams appears on reality show “Pros vs. Joes”
Courtesy: Loras College Baseball Office
On February 7th Loras College assistant baseball coach Jay Williams appeared on an episode of the Spike TV reality show “Pros vs. Joes". Williams went through tryouts in Chicago before being selected to film his episode - in which average “Joes” take on current/former professional athletes - over Halloween weekend. After trying out for the show, Jay found himself throwing pitches to baseball great Joe Carter at Zephyr Field in New Orleans.
To begin the show contestants were to grab a rebound, dribble down the court, and then make a shot. After being the first to make his shot, Jay qualified as the #1 seed. He was then able to pick between baseball (Joe Carter), basketball (Kenny Anderson), or football (Rocket Ismail). Because of his extensive baseball background Jay chose to go against Joe Carter (who has hit one of the two series ending home-runs in World Series history).
For his portion of the show cameras taped from 7 p.m. until 3 a.m. “There was a small guy who kept encouraging us to talk trash to the pro’s” Williams said. Coach Williams did get in a couple of good lines, including when he asked the other contestants where former Toronto Blue Jay Joe Carter’s “walker with the tennis balls was.” MORE TRASH TALKING HERE
“What you see on TV isn’t really what happens,” said Jay, who works with outfielders and hitters at Loras. Williams and his competitor Mike Martin, threw pitches to Carter until they got 10 strikes. The outfield was split up into four zones - single, double, triple, homerun – and points were scored based on where Carter hit the ball. The person with the least number of total bases won.
Williams threw 30 pitches and gave up 11 bases, while Martin threw more than 100 pitches (and had to take a break at one point), giving up nine bases.
The Loras Baseball coaches and players would like to congratulate Jay (with a sweet high-five) on his experience and his representation of the baseball program.
