Yesterday we previewed the Ivy League’s Rolfe Division and today we’re doing the Gehrig Division.  We also make our predictions for overall conference winner as well as Player and Pitcher of the Year.

CLICK HERE to see the Rolfe Division Preview.

IVY LEAGUE PREVIEW-GEHRIG DIVISION

2009 Division Winners:  Dartmouth won the Rolfe & Cornell won the Gehrig Divsion

2009 Champion:  Dartmouth beat Cornell 2-1 last year in the best of two out of three Ivy Baseball Championship Series.

Ivy Fact:  Over the last five seasons five different teams have won Ivy League Baseball Crowns: Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, and Dartmouth.

Columbia

2009 Record:  (11-32, 7-13)

Mascot:  Lions

Head Coach:  Brett Boretti

Location:  New York, NY

Vitals:  .275 BA, 22 HR, .392 OBP, .960 Fld%…6.78 ERA, 5 CG, 2 SVs, 192 K, 138 BB, .315 opp. BA

Columbia head coach Brett Boretti

Stats Don’t Lie:  Columbia’s .275 team batting average ranked 8th in the Ivy League last year, while its 6.78 ERA was 6th (of eight teams).

The Hall Calls:  Head coach Brett Boretti will soon be inducted into his alma mater, Davidson’s, Athletics Hall of Fame.  He remains the only Davidson player to ever be named to the Southern Conference All-Tournament Team.  He was named All-SoCon in 1993 and ’94.  Boretti led Columbia to its first Ivy League title in 31 years in 2008.

Youth In Numbers:  17 of the 30 players on the Columbia roster are either freshmen or sophomores, while there are just three seniors.  Sophomore Jon Eisen (.331, 20 RBIs) and Jr. Bobby O’Brien (.337, 2 HR, 20 RBIs) are among six players who drove-in at least 20 runs in ’09.

Lion Losses:  Columbia loses Ron Williams, who led the team with 27 RBIs last year,  as well as pitcher Joe Scarlata, the team-leader with four wins and 10 starts.

Two-Sport Alex:  6’6 Soph. Alex Aurrichio is also a goalkeeper for the Columbina soccer team.  He hit .375 in 13 Ivy League games last year, while batting .289 overall.  He led the Lions with 4 home runs, but he had just 9 RBIs in 29 games.

Cornell

2009 Record:  (17-23, 10-10)

Mascot:  Big Red

Head Coach:  Bill Walkenbach

Location:  Ithica, NY

Vitals:  .297 HR, 38 HR, .373 OBP, .960 Fld%…5.94 ERA, 3 CG, 9 SVs, 254 K, 127 BB, .291 opp. BA

Bats Back:  Reigning Ivy League batting champ Brian Billigen (.402), returns along with a solid supporting cast including Matt Langseth (.316), Mickey Brodsky (.309, 4 HR, 37 RBIs), and Nate David (.301, 8 HR, 32 RBIs).  Brodsky (2-3, 5.59 ERA) also made 6 starts with three relief appearances on the mound.

Key Loss:  Nathan Ford was one of the top hitters in the Ivy League last year.

David Rochefort

Here’s a look at where some of his stats ranked:  .462 OBP #1, .630 Slg% #2, .370 BA #4, 9 HR T-#5.

Bullpen Delux:  Big Red closer David Rochefort is back for his senior year to lead the pitching staff.  He had a league-best 2.52 ERA with 8 saves last year.  His two wins tied seven others for a team-high.  Rochefort held opponents to a .205 batting average thanks in part to 33 strikeouts and just five walks in 25 IP.

Big Red-Big Ten:  Cornell plays Ohio State and Northwestern in March in Florida.

Penn

2009 Record:  (17-24, 5-15)

Mascot:  Quakers

Head Coach:  John Cole

Location:  Philadelphia, PA

Vitals:  .310 BA, 39 HR, .376 OBP, .949 Fld%…6.74 ERA, 5 CG, 4 SVs, 241 K, 171 BB, .326 opp. BA

Penn Packed:  The Quakers return their top seven hitters from a team that ranked first with a .310 BA,  3rd with a .376 OBP and 2nd with 298 runs scored.

Will Gordon

Tom Grandieri (.357, 5 HR, 32 RBIs), Jeremy Maas (.356, 4 HR, 27 RBIs), Dan Williams (.337, 4 HR, 42 RBIs), Derek Vigoa (.336, 4 HR, 27 RBIs), Will Gordon (.327, 10 HR, 48 RBIs), Adrian Lorenzo (.322), and James Mraz (.304).  Gordon is just the second Penn player since 1979 to hit double digit home runs in a season.

And A Packed Pen:  Penn returns 11 of 12 pitchers from last year’s team, including Grandieri and Gordon (1-1, 4.50 ERA, 2 SVs).

Princeton

2009 Record:  (18-19, 10-10)

Mascot:  Tigers

Head Coach:  Scott Bradley

Location:  Princeton, NJ

Vitals:  .277 BA, 25 HR, .356 OBP, .954 Fld%…5.08 ERA, 6 CG, 6 SVs, 266 K, 132 BB, .287 opp. BA

Wow:  Former Princeton baseball & basketball standout Will Venable is one of just two Tiger basketball players to register at least 1,000 career points, 250 assists and 150 steals.  The other is current Princeton hoops coach Sydney Johnson.  Venable is currently a San Diego Padres outfielder.

Tiger Trail:  Former Tiger pitcher David Hale was drafted by Atlanta with the 87th overall pick of last year’s draft.

Top & Bottom:  Princeton’s 5.08 team ERA was the best in the Ivy League, but it’s .277 batting average was the second worst.

Line-Up Losses:  Three players who started all 37 games for the Tigers last year are gone:  Dan DeGeorge (.349, 2 HR, 21 RBIs), Derek Beckman (.294, 10 SB)

Matt Grabowski

and Jack Murphy (.291, 4 HR, 27 RBIs).  In fact, they lose 6 of their top 9 batters from a year ago.

No Shortage Of Arms:  While the line-up will turnover, Princeton returns 10 of its 12 pitchers from 2009, including Matt Grabowski (2-1, 5 SVs) whose 2.65 ERA ranked second in the league.

Tangling With Tar Heels:  Princeton plays two games at North Carolina March 16 & 17.

2010 Gehrig Division Predictions

Gehrig Division Winner:  Penn

Top Gehrig Player:  Will Gordon-Penn

Top Pitcher:  David Rochefort-Cornell

2010 Overall Ivy League Picks

Ivy Championship Series:  Penn to beat Dartmouth

Player of the Year:  Will Gordon-Penn

Pitcher of the Year:  Kyle Hendricks-Dartmouth