At times – for both Nick Solak and Nick Lopez – life has imitated art.
As shortstops for both Naperville schools as seniors in 2013, Solak and Lopez were responsible for the most crucial position on the diamond.
Three years later and with three years of college ball under the belt for both, the responsibility laid on their respective shoulders just went up exponentially in a day’s time.
Less than 24 hours after the Yankees tabbed Solak Thursday with the 62nd overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft, Lopez came off the board 101 picks later – thanks to the Royals.
Solak, in the midst of trying to help Louisville reach the College World Series again, is hitting .380 – tied for the team lead – with five homers and 29 RBI.
“I was kind of expecting to go pretty high,” Solak said on Friday. “I thought there was a possibility I could go in the second round. But I was more so expecting to go in the third at some time. So when my name popped up there, it was really a surreal moment and it was really cool and exciting. I was surrounded by all my teammates here at Louisville and some family, too. It was a cool moment.”
Permanently entrenched at second base after playing some outfield and DH as late as his sophomore year, he’s found a level of comfort back in the infield.
His freshman and sophomore seasons with the Cardinals, which featured averages of .351 and .324, showed more of what he displayed in three varsity seasons for the Huskies.
Immediately becoming the highest Huskie ever taken in the MLB Draft when the Yankees took him, Solak hit .442 with 27 RBI as a junior in 2012 while a .340 average followed in 2013.
“It’s a honor,” he said. “Naperville – it’s a great baseball city, with all the high schools and then the great competition and stuff. A lot of good players come from Naperville and even more just the Chicago suburbs, different parts of Illinois. It’s a honor.”
But before his attention shifts towards starting the journey to the Bronx, N.Y. in earnest, a second trip to Omaha and the College World Series possibly still lies in front of him.
He was a part of the team that went there for a second straight year in 2014 – the third time in program history.
With seven picks in the first 115, including Zack Burdi going to the White Sox at 26th overall, the pressure to get the program its first national title is high.
“As a team, that’s the goal – not just to get back to Omaha,” said Solak, who will continue to play second base as he matriculates through the Yankees’ system. “Our whole junior class has been there before. We have three seniors. They’ve played there twice. But it’s not just to get back there, but to win it all. There’s a lot of talk around here.”
Like Solak, Lopez made Naperville Central history the moment the Royals used the 163rd overall pick in the fifth round Friday on the Creighton shortstop.
For a program that has two state titles to its name, Lopez’s fifth-round selection likely makes him the highest Redskin/Redhawk ever taken, according to longtime former coach Bill Seiple.
“Just the fact Naperville Central’s an unbelievable school,” Lopez said. “And, yeah, there’s many athletes that come out of it, so I’m just blessed to be a part of that list or that I could say that I was an athlete at Naperville Central. It’s a dream come true. You see those Candace Parker jerseys on the wall and you see all of those and you kind of just wonder.
“When I was walking the halls as a junior, senior or even freshman and sophomore year of high school – you always thought, ‘What if my jersey was in that case?’ So it was just pretty big. Back to the draft, all these thoughts went through my head, like ‘Oh my God.’ I’m receiving texts from people from Central, people from my college. And it was just really cool to see I’m always just going to be a part of the Redhawk family.”
A career-best .306 average with 22 RBI came for Lopez this year for a Bluejays team that won 38 games – the program’s most since its 45 victories in 2011.
Always known to be dazzling with the glove since coming up late as a sophomore in Seiple’s final season in 2011, the strides he has made with the bat have been marketable.
After hitting .270 with 11 RBI for a sectional-winning team in 2012, he hit a team-high .398 in 2013 to go along with 19 RBI.
The confidence gleaned at the plate the last four years is self evident for someone who continues to show size doesn’t matter for the 5-foot-10, 170-pound infielder.
“I just kind of got much better at pitch recognition and just kind of being more confident,” Lopez said. “This last summer, going into my junior year of college, was a real confidence booster for me because I had the knee injury and stuff like that. So there are always bumps in the road, but it was a big confidence booster for me. I kind of just focused on hitting that fastball.”
