MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. --- Moravian College junior right fielder Matt Hanson has been named the 2014 D3baseball.com Mid-Atlantic Region Player of the Year and earned on spot on the All-Mid-Atlantic Region First Team along with senior relief pitcher Chris Soltys while Head Coach Paul Engelhardt was selected as the Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year Monday.
Engelhardt led the Greyhounds to a school-record 32 victories this season as the squad posted a 32-12 mark. Moravian also earned an at-large berth into the 2014 NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament as the top seed in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The Hounds were 14-4 in the Landmark Conference regular season and the top seed in the Landmark Tournament where the squad finished as the runner-up. Moravian earned its first national ranking this spring, and is currently No. 21 in both the D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 25 and the American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball Top 30 while being ranked for the last five weeks. Engelhardt has led the Greyhounds to at least 20 victories in each of the last six years will making the postseason each year, and the squad has reached the 30-win plateau twice. He has a career record of 195-132 in eight seasons at the helm of the program.
"Paul is certainly deserving of honor of being named Regional Coach of the Year," stated Director of Athletics Scot Dapp. "He has done an amazing job with the Greyhound baseball program and his strong work ethic as a coach is emulated by his players."
Hanson, who was also the 2014 Landmark Player of the Year and an All-Conference First Team honoree, hit .408 this season (sixth in school history) while starting 43 games in right field. His 62 hits were tied for the team lead and also tied for second in a single season in the Moravian record books. Hanson, who was named to the ABCA All-Region Third Team a year ago, scored 53 runs this spring, just one shy of the school record and his 48 RBIs are the third most in s single season. He also led the team with three home runs this spring, and Hanson added 10 doubles and four triples for 89 total bases, the fifth most in a season, and a .586 slugging percentage, which is eighth in the record books. Hanson drew 25 walks and was hit by a pitch 13 times, one shy of the single season mark, for a .518 on-base percentage, second in the record books, and he also stole 13 bases. In the outfield, Hanson had 72 putouts and three assists in 77 chances.
"I am thrilled to see that Matt was not only named 1st team All-Region, but was selected as this Region's Player of the Year," Engelhardt said. "Matt is a great young man, that works hard all year to make our team the best it can be. He demonstrated all year that his ability was there for every game, and his results prove it. He is a rare player in that he possesses great hands to hit for average, but can drive the ball gap to gap and put some over the fence. His speed is a difference maker, and helps our team by being able to steal and take extra bases. This honor is well deserved for Matt, and I know he will work even harder to have a better year next year for his team and teammates."
Soltys, who was a member of the Landmark All-Conference First Team this spring, appeared in 19 of the Greyhounds 44 games, and he posted a 6-1 record and four saves. Soltys allowed just four earned runs in 41.2 innings of a 0.86 ERA, the second lowest in a single season at Moravian, and he had 47 strikeouts and just 12 walks. Listed as a closer, Soltys tossed more than one inning in 10 of his 19 appearances this spring including two stints of more than five innings. Soltys completed his career with an 1103 record and his .786 winning percentage is fourth in school history. He is also second all-time with nine career saves and ninth with 116 career strikeouts in 120 innings on the mound.
"Chris was by far the most dominant pitcher we saw all year," commented Engelhardt. "He had the ability to pitch 1 to 5 innings in relief for us at any given moment. If you took away one bad outing Chris had, he had only given up one run in 40+ innings pitched. Chris worked hard to become the best pitcher he could be, and wanted to be the guy on our team that we could go to at any time. His numbers weren't only great, but he pitched against some of the best teams in the country and shut them down routinely for multiple innings. Chris's off the field commitment to getting as strong as he could was a major reason he was successful, and he showed the team what it takes to be a top level player in college baseball. His leadership and devotion will be sorely missed."
To view the entire D3baseball.com All-Mid-Atlantic Region Team, visit http://d3baseball.com/awards/all-region/2014/mid-atlantic.
Players were nominated for these awards by the Sports Information Directors at the various institutions, who were contacted multiple times as the season wound down to remind them to make their players eligible. The 2014 season marks the third year that D3baseball.com has named All-Region teams, with 774 players nominated. The ballot was then made available to SIDs, who voted for a predetermined number of players in their region, as well as D3baseball.com staff and contributors. For each of the eight regions, there is a regional player of the year (a batter), a pitcher of the year, a rookie of the year (must be a freshman) and a coach of the year. To view all eight regions, visit http://d3baseball.com/awards/all-region/index.
