Haviland named Pitcher of the Year, Yale's Sawyer Edges Klim for POY

Congratulations to Shawn Haviland, the Ivy League Pitcher of the Year as a sophomore. Haviland beat out the only other real contender, Dartmouth's Josh Faiola, in a vote that became pretty clear on Harvard-Dartmouth weekend. Meanwhile, the other half of the Saturday starting duo, Adam Cole, was named Co-Rookie of the Year along with Brown's Stephen Daniels.

Yale first baseman Josh Sawyer took Player of the Year despite our statistical analysis that suggested Josh Klimkiewicz may have been the better pick. One can only wonder what would've happened had Josh been healthy for the Brown series with three more games' worth of at-bats. It is worth noting that the coaches, presumably recognizing the absurdity of putting Klim on the second team, simply elected to name two First Team first basemen and go without a Second Team guy. Although POY sort of makes 1 and 1A clear, I tip my cap to the coaches for realizing that both players had first-team seasons (not unlike when the coaches fudged things and named John Birtwell '01 a first team reliever, despite relatively few relief appearances, when it was clear he was a third worthy First Team starter).

For a second straight year, Steffan Wilson was a unanimous First Team choice at the hot corner. Morgan Brown joins him at short and the league's terror on the basepaths, Matt Vance, joins him as an outfielder alongside Dartmouth's Bashelor and Brown's Christian. The Vance inclusion is a nice surprise, considering that Cornell's Brian Kaufman, who arguably had the best numbers against Ivy League competition of the field, only made the Second Team. Lance Salsgiver, who was blazing hot in the early weeks of the season but cooled down the stretch, was also named to the Second Team.

No honorable mention picks for Harvard. The only other player I'd have really pulled for HM was Javy Castellanos, but in a league of very deep pitching, it would've been a tall order.