Flushing, NY - With the 2025 CUNYAC baseball season concluded, the league announced its postseason award winners.
The John Jay Bloodhounds, the 2024 CUNYAC champions, took three of the top four awards. Newly minted head coach
Clemente Sosa was named Coach of the Year. Sophomore left-hander
Axel Kappes III was named Pitcher of the Year while
Sebastian Sanchez was named the league's Rookie of the Year.
Rounding out the major awards,
Hayden Tackett won the Sportsmanship Award. Additionally, senior
Anthony Agosta and junior
Sean Jost earned a spot on the All-Star team.
Since 1996, Sosa becomes just the fourth Bloodhound bench boss to the win the award and joins Joe Mandile (2018), Dan Palumbo (2006 & 2007), and Lou DeMartino (1996, 1998 & 1999). This season, Sosa led the Bloodhounds to a three-way for first in the conference standings with an 8-4 record and the No. 2 seed in the CUNYAC Baseball Champions. The Bloodhounds finished with 15 overall victories. The team was first in doubles (71) and hits (322), while placing second in runs scored (223).
Kappes III becomes just the fifth Bloodhound pitcher since 1996 to win Pitcher of the Year honors and first since 2009 as he joins fellow hurlers Michael Colletta (2009), John Doblowski (2006), Marcus Rodriguez (1996), and Mike McInnis (1994). The Boise, ID native finished with a conference-leading 3.29 ERA over seven starts. He compiled a 5-1 record with three complete games over 41.0 innings pitched. Opposing batters hit a league-low .235 against the left-hander.
A dual-threat for the Bloodhounds, Sanchez flourished in his inaugural season. The Flushing, NY native is the Bloodhounds' third straight recipient of the Rookie of the Year award, joining
Jaxen Gangwish (2024) and
John Spallin (2023). In total, he is just the fourth Bloodhound to win the award, as Marcus Rodriguez was also named Rookie of the Year in 1996 in addition to his Pitcher of the Year accolade. Sanchez was among the league leaders in several statistical categories. He was in the top-ten in slugging percentage (.518), OPS (.962), hits (35). He was tied for third in doubles (10) and tied for fourth in RBI (32) with teammate
Santo Anzalone. On the mound, he made nine appearances and two starts, while earning two saves and striking out 11 batters in 21.2 innings. He fanned a career-best six batters over four innings of work against Yeshiva back on March 9.
Tackett took significant strides in stepping into a leadership role while patrolling most of the year at shortstop and later moving to the hot corner during the Bloodhounds' playoff run. Tacket appeared in all 35 games, batting .226 with 14 runs scored, six doubles, a home run, and drove in 12, sixth-most on the team this season.
Agosta finished out his stellar Bloodhound career. This season, he posted a .274 batting average, with seven doubles (ninth best in CUNYAC). The Middle Village second baseman reached a personal milestone, recording his 100th career and finishing with 104 in his John Jay career.
Jost formed a formidable 1-2 combination with Kappes III. The Smithtown, NY native posted his lowest ERA to date (5.11) while going 5-1 in nine starts. Over 56.1 innings, he held batters to the third-lowest average in the league (.291) and finished with the second-most strikeouts (47).
