By Michael L. Damon
Flushing, N.Y.— The season might be over for the Bloodhounds, but John Jay certainly picked up a win on Monday evening when the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) named its 2009 All-Stars. Senior ace pitcher,
Michael Colletta (Staten Island, NY, New Dorp) was named the CUNYAC Pitcher of the Year. Meanwhile four of his teammates,
Johan Abad (Corona, NY, Flushing) Edwin Hernandez (Brooklyn, NY, Murry Bergtraum),
John Massoni (Staten Island, NY, St. Peter's Boys) and
Xavier Perez (Bronx, NY, Manhattan Center) were named first team All-Stars. Additionally, first year prodigy,
James Podlucky (Staten Island, NY, IMG Academy)was named a second team All-Star for the 2009 season.
Colletta, a four year standout who was a member of three John Jay baseball teams that went to the conference championship and won once, earned the Pitcher of the Year after earning five wins, usually pitching against the opponent’s ace starter, and posting a 3.99 ERA. He logged 99.1 innings and struck out 101 batters. He recorded four complete games including one shutout. He limited the opposition to a .255 batting average. Against CUNYAC opponents he was 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA and held the opposition to a .194 batting average. His final career game perhaps was the most memorable of his career when he literally left it all on the field. He logged 12.2 innings and struck out 13 while throwing 166 pitches and said after the game there was no way he was coming out and was going to either win the game or lose the game.
In his illustrious four seasons, the right handed hurler earned 21 wins, while appearing in 73 games. He started 50 contests and finished 18 of them. He logged 347.1 innings and had 264 strikeouts.
Abad, a three year member, made a CUNYAC All-Star team for the first time in his career. He led the team in batting average, with a .383 mark. He had 10 doubles, two homeruns and 29 RBI. The first baseman had a .517 slugging percentage and scored 25 runs. Over the course of three years, Abad batted .339 with 5 homeruns and 80 RBI in 107 career games. He ended the 2009 season on a 17 game hitting streak.
Hernandez, another three year member of the Bloodhounds, is on the team for the first time in his career. The starting centerfielder started 41 contests this season, all in the leadoff spot, and batted .355 with 14 doubles, two triples, 78 total bases and 17 stolen bases.
Massoni, a three year John Jay member who also started 41 games, batted .321
with a team-high 15 doubles, one homerun and 36 RBI. He had 159 at-bats and struck out a mere three times. He came to the plate as often as seven times in one game and the left handed batter was still one of the toughest to strikeout in the NCAA. As a pitcher, Massoni was just the opposite. While he struck out a very limited number of times, he had no problem fanning batters. He led CUNYAC in strikeouts with 109. He struck out at least 10 batters four times, including a career-high 17 (over seven innings) in a win over St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn on Mar. 13. He logged 80.0 innings and picked up five wins.
Against CUNYAC opponents he was 3-2 with a 2.38 ERA, and in 34.0 innings he blew away 48 batters.
Massoni, who transferred from Division I Long Island University before the 2007 season, was a CUNYAC All-Star for all three seasons at John Jay. He posted a .344 batting average at John Jay with four homeruns and 130 RBI in 124 games. He had 243 total bases, and in 482 at-bats was struck out 19 times.
Pitching wise he was 17-12 in three seasons and struck out 213 batters in 210.1 innings.
Perez, a second year member of the Bloodhounds, was a first team All-Star team for the second year in a row. The infielder batted .344 with six doubles, four triples and 27 RBI. He had 58 total bases and 18 stolen bases.
In two seasons, the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) transfer has started 81 games and has posted a .360 batting average with eight doubles, seven triples, a homerun and 56 RBI. He has recorded 33 stolen bases.
Podlucky, a freshman, earns a spot on the second team after posting a .307 batting average with eight doubles and 19 RBI. Earlier in the season, the leftfielder had a 17 game hitting streak.