Pace University Athletics

Joe Kesselmark (‘86), one of the best players in Pace baseball history, returned to the Setters’ dugout as an assistant coach during the fall of 2021. In the 2026 season, Kesselmark will enter his fifth season as assistant coach of the Blue and Gold.

Kesselmark is one of the pioneers of the Pace baseball program as he put together a dominant career from 1984-86. He still has his name all over the Setters’ record book, including the highest career batting average in school history (.448).

With the Setters playing a Division I schedule at the time, Kesselmark ranked second in the country with a .487 batting average in 1986. He also hit 17 home runs that year, which is still tied for the most in a single season in school history (Mike Bohlander, 2001).

Kesselmark was inducted into the Pace Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998 as part of the second-ever class of honorees.

Following his Pace career, he was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 8th Round of the 1986 MLB Draft. He went on to play five seasons of professional baseball, ultimately reaching the AAA level.

Prior to coming back to Pleasantville this year, Kesselmark served as an assistant baseball coach at nearby Nyack College and has been the co-owner of a local baseball academy over the last five years.

A Poughkeepsie native, Kesselmark is enshrined in Our Lady of Lourdes High School Hall of Fame and the Dutchess County Baseball Hall of Fame.

Kesselmark is currently a resident of Somers with his wife Sonia. Their daughter, Drew, recently graduated from Vanderbilt University, while their son, Troy, is a senior at University of Wisconsin-Madison.