Alex Solis, Central Valley’s best all-round varsity baseball player, earned all-conference honors for the second straight season.
The junior shortstop/pitcher was selected to the Western Athletic Conference First Team during the league’s year-end coaches meeting earlier this month in Livingston.
“He definitely deserves it,” Hawks’ head coach Derrick Goblirsch said. “He does everything we ask him to do. He leads by example. His approach to the game is more advanced compared to other guys we get.”
“Coach Goblirsch talks about the Hawk mentality a lot,” Solis added. “Putting your team before yourself, not being selfish. I try to help my team any way I can.”
Solis ranked first in the WAC in hits (11), triples (1) and stolen bases (5), second in doubles (3) and walks (7), third in batting average (.379) and RBIs (7) and on-base percentage (.500), fifth in runs (7), and sixth in slugging percentage (.551).
Alex totaled 18 strikeouts in 15 innings on the mound.
“This is the best year I’ve had,” he said. “The stats show that. I produced a lot more on offense. My pitching has gotten better. We do situational stuff and Wiffle-ball hitting during zero period. We’ve been doing that since day one of the school year. It helped me big time.”
Added Goblirsch: “He’s bigger, faster and stronger. That comes with maturing.”
Solis earned second-team all-WAC honors as a sophomore.
He hit .300 with six doubles, three RBIs, seven runs, nine walks and seven stolen bases.
He had slugging and on-base percentages of .450 and .451, respectively.
Solis had 21 strikeouts in 222/3 innings at pitcher.
Alex batted .233 with one double, two RBIs, five runs and three walks at the varsity level as a freshman. Solis’ slugging and on-base percentages were .266 and .324.
“I’ve always played baseball,” Solis said. “I like it a lot. You get to take your mind off everything else.”
Central Valley (1-9) finished in last place in the 2018 WAC standings.
“Team-wise, we want to be more competitive next year,” Alex said. “The biggest thing is we need to score more runs. We also need to clean up our defense. There’s always something to work on to improve yourself. I need to be more of a vocal leader.”
