Bryan Soloman Bryan Soloman, a former Jackson Memorial High School baseball standout and current Eastern Kentucky University third baseman, was selected as a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball magazine after a surging second half of the 2011 season.
In 2010, Soloman was named the Gatorade New Jersey Player of the Year as a pitcher and third baseman for the Jaguars.
As a freshman at Eastern Kentucky in 2011, Soloman hit .310 and was tied for the team lead in home runs (9), and second on the team in RBIs (40) and slugging percentage (.516).
Soloman was named Freshman of the Year in the Ohio Valley Conference as Eastern Kentucky qualified for its conference tournament in a 21-36 season.
“I saw my numbers were pretty good for my freshman year, but I was shocked [to be selected as a freshman All- American],” Soloman said. “I’m very happy with that, looking at some of the older guys I was playing against who got drafted [in theMajor League draft]. I am very proud of this [honor], considering there are over 300 [NCAA] Division I programs out there. It’s a big honor for me and for my school.”
Soloman is the 13th baseball All-American in nine years at Eastern Kentucky and the fourth under third-year head coach Jason Stein.
“This is a great honor for a very deserving young man,” Stein told the Tri-Town News. “It speaks volumes for what the future holds for Bryan and for our program.”
Soloman was one of four conference players selected for the All-American honor, but it did not come easily, and he earned the honor largely on the basis of a half-season of torrid hitting.
Although he delivered three hits in his college debut, Soloman struggled through much of the first half of the 2011 season, as his batting average dipped to a season-low .223 after a March 29 game against Marshall.
Through it all, Soloman said, his coach never lost faith in him and kept him in the lineup, although he was dropped from the No. 6 spot to the No. 8 spot in the batting order. Soloman said he also did not doubt that he would snap out of the slump, and by the end of the season he was hitting cleanup.
Soloman said playing on the NCAA Division I level involved some adjustment, even though he had played game in and game out for Jackson Memorial in the competitive Shore Conference while in high school.
“It’s a whole different change of pace,” Soloman said. “Everyone is good on the Division I level. Our coaches stress that it’s a different level, but I didn’t think I would adjust as quick.”
Soloman said the biggest adjustment was not on anything technical in his swing as much as it was on the mental side, even though he no longer was pitching and dividing his concentration between a field position and a role on the mound.
“I was in a slump for over a month and saw my average drop. It was tough getting back to .300. It was an adjustment I had to make. Once I started hitting good, it kept going,” he said.
Soloman hit seven home runs inApril and batted .440 (33-75) that month as he helped the Colonels win five of seven conference games en route to clinching a conference tournament berth. The Colonels were eliminated from the tournament in the first round.
Soloman said he became more selective with his swings, going after good pitches to hit and spraying the ball more than he had been doing.
“I was hitting the ball hard, but right at people. If you just keep swinging away, good things happen,” he said.
Soloman said his 2011 slump at Eastern Kentucky resembled one he had in 2010 at Jackson Memorial before he bounced back in dramatic style, hitting a home run in nine consecutive games.
“I was 1 for 20 before that,” said Soloman, who hit 12 home runs for the Jaguars in 2010, two short of the Shore Conference single-season record.
Soloman said he likewise struggled a bit on defense early this season at Eastern Kentucky.
“I made errors early on and then I had a good streak of making plays,” he said.
His 89 assists tied for second on the team.
“It’s like Coach [Frank] Malta said when I was at Jackson Memorial, ‘Be prideful of the defensive side,’ ” he said.
Soloman’s turnaround during the second half of the campaign was noted by the Ohio Valley Conference on May 2 when he was named co-Player of the Week.
He said he is looking forward to next season when the Colonels’ entire infield is expected to return. He is spending the summer taking classes at Eastern Kentucky and working under the supervision of a strength and conditioning coach there.
“I’ll be doing a lot of agility work at third base and working on my strength and speed, which is on a higher level when you are in Division I,” Soloman said.