May 17, 2007

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--After his record-setting season, Yale sophomore outfielder/catcher Ryan Lavarnway was unanimously named First Team All-Ivy as a utility player, the League office announced Thursday. Lavarnway, however, missed out on Player of the Year honors, which went to Brown catcher Devin Thomas. Senior first baseman Marc Sawyer was also named to the first team, marking the third straight season he has been recognized by the conference's eight head coaches. Junior Josh Cox was named honorable mention All-Ivy in the outfield.

Lavarnway earned All-Ivy honors for the first time in his career. He started all 43 games, making 30 starts behind the plate, 12 in right field, and one in left. This season, Lavarnway set single-season Yale marks for batting average (.467), hits (70), home runs (14), RBIs (55), doubles (17), total bases (131) and slugging percentage (.873). The Woodland Hills, Calif., native became the first player in Ivy League history to win three successive Player of the Week honors, and his 25-game hitting streak from the end of 2006 to the middle of this season set a new Ivy mark. Lavarnway currently leads the nation in batting, but was edged for the Blair Bat (the batting title in Ivy-only games) by Princeton's Sal Iacono. Iacono hit .453 to Lavarnway's .452.

Marc Sawyer

Sawyer, the 2006 Ivy League Player of the Year, earned an all-conference selection in each of his four years. He was Second Team All-Ivy as a freshman, then captured three straight first team nods. The Largo, Fla., native is just the 18th player in Ivy League history to be named to the first team three consecutive times. The only other Yale player to do it was outfielder Dan Thompson from 1994-96. Sawyer started every game and hit a career-high .394, including a .400 clip in Ivy League contests. He was fifth in the league with 61 hits, third with 40 runs scored, and second with 16 doubles. Sawyer is Yale's all-time leader in hits (230) and doubles (54).

Cox, who started every game in center field, earned All-Ivy recognition for the first time after the best season of his career. Yale's primary leadoff hitter was second in the League with 24 stolen bases, the seventh highest single-season total in school history. Cox went 24-for-28 in stolen base attempts. He finished third on the team with a .324 batting average and 56 hits, and second with 37 runs. The Gainesville, Fla., native tied for second in the Ivy League with four triples.

Ivy League champion Brown had five players selected to the first team, including Thomas and Pitcher of the Year Jeff Dietz. Cornell was the only other school with multiple first-teamers. Penn left-hander Todd Roth was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year, as well as the other first team pitcher.

Yale finished third in the Rolfe Division with an 8-12 Ivy League record. The Bulldogs went 16-27 overall.

2007 All-Ivy Baseball Team

Player of the Year: Devin Thomas, C, Brown*
Pitcher of the Year: Jeff Dietz, Brown
Rookie of the Year: Todd Roth, P, Penn
*-unanimous selection

First Team
P: Jeff Dietz, Jr., Brown
P: Todd Roth, Fr., Penn
RP: Blake Hamilton, Sr., Cornell
C: *Devin Thomas, Sr., Brown
1B: Marc Sawyer, Sr., Yale
2B: Bryan Tews, Sr., Brown
SS: Matt Nuzzo, So., Brown
3B: Sal Iacono, Sr., Princeton
OF: Ryan Murphy, Jr., Brown
OF: Nick Santomauro, Fr., Dartmouth
OF: *Matt Vance, Jr., Harvard
UT: *Ryan Lavarnway, So., Yale
DH: *Justin Milo, Fr., Cornell

Second Team
P: John Baumann, Jr., Columbia
P: Max Perlman, Fr., Harvard
RP: Rob Hallberg, Jr., Brown
C: Andrew Casey, Sr., Harvard
1B: Jeff Dietz, Jr., Brown
2B: Jimmy Heinz, Jr., Cornell
SS: Scott Hardinger, So., Cornell; Dan DeGeorge, So., Princeton
3B: Nathan Ford, So., Cornell
OF: Damon Wright, Jr., Dartmouth
OF: Joey Boaen, Sr., Penn
OF: Jarron Smith, Jr., Penn
DH: Adrian Turnham, So., Princeton

Honorable Mention
P: Jim Birmingham, Fr., Penn
RP: Clay Bartlett, Fr., Columbia; Kyle Zeis, Jr., Dartmouth
C: Jack Murphy, Fr., Princeton
1B: Ron Williams, So., Columbia; Kyle Armeny, Jr., Penn
2B: Brendan Byrne, Sr., Harvard; Aaron Prince, Sr., Princeton
SS: Jeff Stoeckel, So., Harvard
3B: Steffan Wilson, Jr., Harvard
OF: Andrew Ward, Sr., Columbia; Domenic DiRicco, So., Cornell; Tom Stack-Babich, Jr., Harvard; Spencer Lucian, So., Princeton; Josh Cox, Jr., Yale

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity