BLUEFIELD — Erik Williams was at Bluefield College recently when a text came across with orders to get to Bowen Field. Pronto.

For good reason. A representative from the Los Angeles Dodgers was waiting for him. Williams is a Yankees fan, but when a professional baseball scout beckons, allegiance to a particular team is no longer that important.

"The Dodgers came (for a game) against Shawnee State and I took a test for them. I did a questionnaire for them too," Williams said. "That is great, I honestly wasn't expecting it at all. I got a text telling me there is someone here important for you, you need to get to the field. I was actually really nervous about it."

Who wouldn't be? The 5-foot-10, 190-pound junior second baseman has enjoyed a season worthy of such attention.

"That has always been a dream since I was little," said Williams, a native of Bakersfield, Calif. "Hopefully it works out. If it doesn't, it doesn't, I am just going to play hard and work hard on everything."

A starting quarterback and two-time all-area baseball player at Stockdale High School in Bakersfield, Williams played two seasons at Bakersfield College, earning all-conference and All-Southern California recognition, followed by one semester at Cal State-Monterey Bay.

He wasn't known as a home run hitter, collecting three long balls as a freshman at Bakersfield and another six the following season.

"I have 14 right now," said Williams, who drew interest out of high school from Fresno State and Colorado. "They all came at the beginning of the year. I think I am in a dry spell right now."

He certainly never expected to have so much success so soon.

"No, I actually I didn't at all," he said, "but I try to play hard every time I go out there."  

His last of those 14 home runs came on March 30 against Hiwassee, as the teams in the balanced Appalachian Athletic Conference began pitching more carefully to him.

"This conference we play in is actually a really good conference," Williams said. "I played in a really good conference in California and this one matches up really well.

"(Pitching) is similar for the most part. There is really good pitching out here that I have faced, way better than what I thought I would face. I think the pitching is really similar to the stuff out there."

Williams is hoping his next home run — and many more — will come on Monday when Bluefield plays top-seeded and No. 5 nationally-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan in the opening round of the AAC Tournament at Hunter Wright Stadium in Kingsport, Tenn.

"They are starting to pitch to me now, but my swing has just not been the same as it was in the beginning of the season," Williams said. "I am trying to get that back in order for the conference tournament so hopefully I get hot for the conference tournament."

Bluefield had to beat Union 5-4 on Sunday to squeeze into the AAC tourney as an eighth seed. They lost two other games in the series by one run apiece, two of 11 games the Rams have dropped this season by two runs or less.

"There is some pressure, but we just try to play as relaxed as we can," said Williams, a two-time AAC Player of the Week this season. "Once you get tight the wheels start falling off and it just goes downhill from there so we try to play as relaxed as possible.

"We ended up getting one out of those three. We could have pulled out three that weekend, but we are just glad we got one so we can get in the tournament."

Williams is a big reason why the Rams (27-28) are still playing, batting .327 with 14 home runs and 43 RBIs. He leads the team with 42 runs scored, is tied for the most hits with 55, and also has 13 doubles, 17 walks and a .384 on-base percentage in 51 games.

Williams is also solid at second base, having committed just 12 errors in 200 chances for a .940 fielding percentage. He has also started 23 double plays.

His double play partner, Eddie Torres — who has missed much of the last two weeks with a broken finger — is also from Bakersfield. So is Christian Sinnott, who will start on the mound for the Rams against Tennessee Wesleyan.

"This area is definitely a culture shock from where I have been from, but I am getting used to it and I like it here now," Williams said. "It feels like home now."

All three came as a package to Bluefield prior to this season.

"The broken finger set him back a couple of weeks, but hopefully we will have him back this week and he can play. We have been going for a while, I was a second baseman in junior college as well so we have played together for two years now."

It took some time for Williams to adjust to his college home.

"The first month I was here I was like 'what am I doing here'," Williams said, "but once baseball and school started going it wasn't too bad...

"Where I am from is more like the (Central ) valley, which is more up where the (agriculture) is in California. The biggest change probably, where I am from it is more congested and fast paced all the time. Here is more slow paced, really no traffic and it is actually way more green out here than over there."

That includes Bowen Field, a historic stadium that's been existence in 1939. While the facility shows its age in some ways, the actual field and the scenery around the park is hard to beat.

"This place is beautiful," said Williams, who came to Bluefield having never seen the campus. "This is the best park I think I have ever played in. "Coach White actually does a really good job with this field, he puts in long hours to do it for sure. This is all Coach White, this is all him."

Williams is working on a degree in criminal justice, with plans to be a state trooper or highway patrolman back in native California.

"I have always wanted to be a cop," said Williams, whose sister was a talented softball and soccer player. "All the way through high school, my dad's buddies were in law enforcement and it just caught my eye."

Bluefield will hold graduation on Saturday, but baseball will continue for the Rams, who must win the AAC Tournament to keep its season alive. That 27-28 record is below .500, which will keep them from playing in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Tournament.

"Coach White always tells us every pitch and every game matters and it definitely came back to bite us in the butt with those 11 games," Williams said. "Hopefully we can get hot in this conference tournament and pull something out."

Bluefield, which will play Union or St. Andrews in the AAC's second round on Tuesday, lost three times this season to Tennessee Wesleyan, but two of the three were decided by a combined five runs, and one of those saw the Rams' get no-hit performance by the Bulldogs.

"We actually played them pretty well," Williams said. "The no-hit game was still a close game. The other two games we played them pretty solid, we played clean baseball."

That is what must happen for the Rams to be successful next week.

"We have just got to play clean. We have got to put pitching, hitting and defense all together, definitely against Tennessee Wesleyan," Williams said. "Actually I do feel really good about the last three games (at Union), we played really clean the last three games so hopefully we can keep it going."

When the season does end Williams will head back home for a week or two and then return to spend the summer playing in the Coastal Plains League in North Carolina. That will be followed by one more season at Bluefield, hopefully with a future in the game after graduation.

"I need to have, if not better the same year as this year next year," Williams said. "I just honestly try to play hard for the team, just grind out quality at-bats and stuff like that.

"The Coastal Plains League will definitely help out a lot, a lot of exposure. Then next year bring them out here and see what happens."

His family certainly wouldn't mind another visit from the Dodgers.

"I am actually a Yankee fan, but dad is a big Dodger fan," he said, with a smile. "Everybody I know is a big Dodger fan so once I told them that they loved it."

bwoodson@bdtonline.com/Twitter @bdtwoodson