A former four-year member of the program who played on three NCAA tournament teams and back-to-back regional champions, Manchester native Ismael Bolorin Jr. returns to the staff as a volunteer assistant coach under head coach Brian Hamm.
“We are extremely fortunate to have Ish at Eastern, his alma mater," observes Hamm. "I had great respect for Ish’s baseball knowledge and strong character as a high school and travel ball coach, so adding him to our coaching staff was a perfect fit. Ish is a consummate professional who has a steady temperament. His humility and kindness matched with his background in teaching serve him well as a coach.”
In Bolorin's second season in 2021, Eastern ranked either first or second in the Little East Conference in most every offensive statistical category, among them batting, home runs, slugging, on-base percentage, runs, hits and total bases and had the most Top 10 hitters (four) in the conference.
A former high school baseball coach for six years who played in Puerto Rico for two years after graduating from Eastern, Bolorin has recently served as general manager and hitting instructor at 860 Baseball in Hartford, which is a full service indoor baseball training facility.
Bolorin was a three-year varsity starter and four-year member of the program at Eastern between 2005 and 2008, helping the program to consecutive regional championships in 2006-07 and an average of 34 wins per year. With Bolorin, Eastern won two Little East Conference regular-season and tournament championships, compiling an LEC regular-season record of 44-12. A left-handed-hitting outfielder, Bolorin had a .296 career batting average and .986 fielding percentage, with 158 total bases, 20 stolen bases, 83 runs and 53 RBI. As a first-year starter in 2007, he batted .333 with 14 stolen bases and a record (which still stands) 12 triples. He is currently ranked fourth all-time at Eastern with 16 triples.
Bolorin earned his B.S. Degree in Sport & Leisure Management from Eastern in 2009 and is currently employed as a bilingual tutor at Anna E. Norris Elementary School in East Hartford.
