IVY LEAGUE PREVIEW-ROLFE 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.

Ivy Fact II:  The 2009 Ivy League Pitcher and Player of the Year (Nick Santomauro and Brandon Josselyn, respectively)both came from the Rolfe Division, and they have both graduated.

* Today’s preview covers the Rolfe Division, including our predictions for division winner and top player and pitcher for the division.  In tomorrow’s Gehrig Division preview we will make our picks for overall conference winner as well as Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year picks.

CLICK HERE to see the Gehrig Division Preview.

Brown

2009 Record:  (24-19-1, 15-5)

Mascot:  Bears

Head Coach:  Marek Drabinski

Location:  Providence, RI

Vitals:  .308 BA, 50 HR, .387 OBP, .971 Fld%…6.38 ERA, 7 CG, 11 SV, 237 K, 125 BB, .314 opp. BA

Tough Luck:  Brown had the second-best record in the Ivy League in 2009, they finished second in the Rolfe Division to eventual overall champion Dartmouth.

Tough Beginnings: The Bears open their season March 5-7 in Baton Rouge, LA with two games each vs. defending national champion LSU & Pepperdine.  The

Pete Greskoff

following week they play a 3-game series at traditional SEC power South Carolina.

Summer Fun: Junior Pete Greskoff was named the 2009 MVP of the Atlantic Collegiate Summer League.  He hit .397 with 10 HR and 37 RBIs for the Jersey Pilots.  Greskoff batted .339 with 11 home runs and 36 RBIs for Brown last spring.

Holes To Fill:  Brown loses Matt Nuzzo (.324, 11 HR, 45 RBIs),  Steve Daniels (.314, 8 HR, 33 RBIs, 23 SB) and Robert Pappenhouse.  Daniels was drafted by Toronto in the 24th round of last year’s MLB Draft, while Pappenhouse’s .377 average was the second-best average in the conference.

Hot Commodities:  Mark Gormley (6-2, 4.55 ERA) tossed four of Brown’s seven complete games last year, while closer Matthew Kimball (2-3, 6.23 ERA) earned 10 of his team’s 11 saves.  Both return in 2010.

Dartmouth

2009 Record:  (27-18, 16-4)

Mascot:  Big Green

Head Coach:  Bob Whalen (’09 Ivy Coach of the Year)

Location:  Hanover, NH

Vitals:  .308 BA, 44 HR, .397 OBP, .963 Fld%…6.06 ERA, 6 CG, 13 SVs, 240 K, 96

Dartmouth's Joe Sclafini

BB, .328 opp. BA

Rough Regional:  After winning the 2009 Ivy League crown Dartmouth was sent to the Chapel Hill, NC NCAA Regional.  They hung tough in a 5-2 loss to CWS bound North Carolina, but suffered elimination after a 16-0 loss to Kansas.

Armed & Dangerous:  The Big Green returns its top four pitchers from 2009: Sr. Robert Young (5-4, 4.63 ERA, 3 CG), Soph. Kyle Hendricks (6-3, 4.84 ERA, 3 CG), Sr. Ben Murray (6-1, 5.27 ERA) and Jr. Ryan Smith (2-3, 5.88 ERA, 11 SVs).

Line-Up Losses:  Dartmouth loses 3 of its top 4 batters from last year’s NCAA squad.  2009 League Player of the Year Rick Santomauro’s .372 avg. was 3rd best in the Ivy League.  They also lose Mike Pagliarulo (.340) and Ray Allen (.335, 10 HR, 44 RBIs).  Those three accounted for 24 of Dartmouth’s 44 total home runs.

Rookie No More:  Joe Sclafani (.339, 2 HR, 35 RBIs) is the ’09 Ivy League Rookie of the Year.  His 6 triples tied for the league lead.

Harvard

2009 Record:  (13-28, 10-10)

Mascot:  Crimson

Head Coach:  Joe Walsh

Location:  Boston, MA

Vitals:  .288 BA, 32 HR, .361 OBP, .957 Fld%…8.00 ERA, 4 CG, 5 SV, 211K, 135 BB, .339 opp. BA

Going Dome:  After opening its season with three games in Florida March 6 & 7 Harvard plays Minnesota, South Dakota State & Creighton at the Metrodome Tournament the following weekend.

Room To Improve:  The Crimson’s .288 team batting average ranked 5th in the Ivy League last year, while their 8.00 ERA was last.

Roster Turnover:  Of the seven players who played in at least 33 of Harvard’s 41 games last year only Tyler Albright (.267), Dillon O’Neil (.322) and Danskas Zail (.219) return.

Yale

2009 Record:  (13-24, 7-13)

Mascot:  Bulldogs

Head Coach:  John Stuper

Location:  New Haven, CT

Vitals:  .281 BA, 27 HR, .366 OBP, .964 Fld%…6.82 ERA, 5 CG, 3 SVs, 232 K, 179 BB, .291 opp. BA

Drafted Dog:  The Bulldogs lose reigning Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Brandon Josselyn (5-3, 4.29 ERA, 4 CG) who was taken by Seattle in the 25th round of last year’s MLB Draft.

Trygg Larsson-Danforth

Locked Line-Up:  Yale returns seven of its top hitters from a year ago starting withh team triple crown winner Trygg Larsson-Danforth (.344, 7 HR, 37 RBIs, .997 OPS).  Andy Megee (.329, HR, 16 RBIs, 25 R), Zach Tobolowsky (.320, 5 HR, 18 RBIs) and Gant Elmore (.294, 5 RBIs, 23 R) each started at least 25 of Yale’s 37 games in 2009.

Pitching Problems?:   Yale’s 6.82 ERA ranked 7th of 8 teams in the conference in 2009, and they retun just one pitcher that made at least 9 starts last year.

2010 Rolfe Division Predictions

Rolfe Division Winner:  Dartmouth’s pitching gives it the slight edge over Brown

Top Rolfe Player:  Pete Greskoff-Brown

Top Rolfe Pitcher:  Kyle Hendricks-Dartmouth