New York, N.Y. — The tenth annual Lou DeMartino Memorial Dinner was held on Saturday evening with over 180 people packing the main gymnasium to help celebrate a pair of award recipients in memory of the former John Jay baseball coach. John Jay baseball alum Mike Mauro received the Distinguished Alumni Award, and Sal Agostinelli Director of International Scouting for the Philadelphia Phillies earned the Lou DeMartino Lifetime Achievement Award.

Many of the 180 plus in attendance included friends and family of the two award recipients as well as numerous friends of the John Jay baseball program and a number of professional scouts from various Major League Baseball teams. The dinner also included an overwhelming number of players who have played under current head coach, Dan Palumbo who is entering his eleventh season with the Bloodhounds. Also amongst the highly attended event included numerous head baseball coaches at NCAA Division I institutions, American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Famers,
 
Former Lou DeMartino Memorial Dinner Lifetime Achievement Award Winners and Distinguished Alumni Award Winners were in attendance, as well as former student-athletes who are now members of the John Jay Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
Amongst the other faces in the crowd included President of the Correctional Officers Benevolent Association, Norman Seabrook and New York City District 6 Councilwoman Gale Brewer.  Brewer took the podium for a moment and praised Palumbo's roster for the impeccable work they have done in the community through the years.
 
Meanwhile, both award winners took time during their speeches to give kudos to the Bloodhounds.
 
“I never met in my baseball life consistently better quality people than the recent John Jay baseball team,” said Agostinelli.
 
Mauro praised Palumbo for the fantastic work he has done though the years with the John Jay baseball team.

Mauro played under DeMartino from 1988-'90. In his three seasons with the John Jay baseball team, Mauro batted .434 with 174 hits. He had 88 stolen bases during that time, including a streak of 45 consecutive swipes without being caught stealing. He was named a City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) All-Star in 1989 and '90. He was also named to the All Knickerbocker teams during those same seasons.

“The first time I met Lou is when he came to see me at one of my high school games. He was straight to the point, and when I came to visit John Jay, I knew this is where I wanted to be,” said Mauro. “Lou cared about all of his players. Even when I was released from the Minor Leagues he said, 'so what, you did well.'”

Agostinelli is a true lifetime baseball achiever.  A native of the Bronx, N.Y. Agostinelli attended Slippery Rock University, a Division II school out of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and was a member of their baseball team. Upon his college playing days, Agostinelli played 10 years professionally in the minor league systems of the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies. He spent the first eight years in the farm systems of the Cardinals before playing his final two years with the Phillies. As a minor league baseball player, he played 657 games, and had 433 hits.
 
Upon retirement from his playing days, Agostinelli coached in the Phillies minor league system for two years before being hired by the franchise as the northeast scouting supervisor. He was named international scouting director for the organization in 1997 and still holds that position today.
 
He also is the proud owner of a baseball camp, Long Island Baseball Academy (LIBA). Established in 1994, and based out of Smithtown, N.Y., LIBA has provided baseball lessons and clinics to children of all ages, including a skills camp for teenagers between ages 12-15.

“When I first met Lou in 1993 when I started scouting for the Phillies, I saw how much he cared about his players,” said Agostinelli. “I knew if I didn't follow up on one of his players, I'd keep hearing from him, that's how much be believed in the players he was coaching.”

The Lou DeMartino Memorial Dinner generally serves as the last official day of the offseason for the John Jay baseball program. Practice officially begins on Sunday as the team prepares for the 2012 season on a quest to compete for the conference championship for the fourth time in seven seasons.

John Jay baseball has won CUNYAC's top prize 10 times in the program's illustrious history.
 
"Tonight we honored two extremely worthy people for our awards,” said Palumbo. “Mike Mauro might very well have been the greatest player in John Jay baseball history, and Sal Agostinelli has had a tremendous career in baseball, first as a player and now as a scout.


“I want thank my hard working assistant coaches, John Dobkowski, Dennis Lopez and Edwin Hernandez for the work they do helping make this program great,” said Palumbo. “I also want to thank my returnees Cosme Munoz, Ronald Barillas, Frederick Rivera and William Moran, who work so tirelessly to put this event together.”

DeMartino, a member of the John Jay Athletics Hall of Fame, was a legendary baseball coach for the Bloodhounds. He coached the program from 1974 to 1999 amassing 424 career wins and guided John Jay baseball to conference championship seasons in 1978, 79, 82, 83, 84, 85, 96 and 99. He also led the program to the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament in 1982, 84, 85, 86, 96, 97 and 99, which included winning the tournament in 85. The former Bloodhounds skipper also earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III tournament in 1996 to become the first John Jay athletics program to achieve that feat.   

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