Baseball All-Ivy -- 2012

Photos courtesy of Columbia Sports Information/Media Relations and Cornell and Princeton Athletic Communications

PRINCETON, N.J. -- After a vote by the Ivy League coaches, the 2012 postseason awards in baseball went to a Lion, a Tiger and a bear. Well a Big Red "bear" that is.

Columbia junior outfielder Dario Pizzano (Saugus, Mass.) was named Player of the Year, Princeton junior pitcher Zak Hermans (Coppell, Texas) took home Pitcher of the Year honors and Cornell freshman reliever Kellen Urbon (San Diego) earned Rookie of the Year accolades.

Player of the Year
Pizzano was also a unanimous first-team All-Ivy outfield selection. He capped off an impressive season that saw the junior bat .360 (54-of-150) with 37 runs, 16 doubles, four home runs and 36 RBI. He slugged .547, walked 31 times and recorded an on-base percentage of .471. Pizzano tied for the team lead in batting average, hits, at bats, runs and home runs and led Columbia in doubles and RBI. Pizzano leads the League in on-base percentage and ranks tied for first in runs, second in walks, tied for second in hits, third in RBI and doubles, tied for third in batting average and fifth in slugging percentage.

Pizzano was a two-time Player of the Week (March 27 and May 1) and has three such honors for his career. He ended his season on a 13-game hitting streak and is tied with former Major Leaguer Gene Larkin for the all-time Columbia home runs record with 25. Pizzano added another award to his trophy case, as he shared Rookie of the Year honors with Dartmouth’s Chris O'Dowd in 2010. He becomes the first Lion to earn Player of the Year since Garrett Neubart in 1995.

Pitcher of the Year
Hermans was also named first-team All-Ivy pitcher. He was the Tigers’ best hurler all season, leading the team in wins (6), earned run average (3.00), strikeouts (60), opposing batting average (.241) and innings pitched (63.0). He posted two complete games and one shutout, a 1-0 victory over Cornell on April 27 that kept Princeton in the hunt for the Lou Gehrig division title.

Hermans ranked second in the League in strikeouts and innings pitched, tied for second in wins and fourth in ERA and opposing batting average. He bookended the Pitcher of the Week award in 2012, winning the first of the season (March 6) and the last of the season (May 1). Hermans is Princeton’s first Pitcher of the Year recipient since Ryan Quillian in 2001.

Rookie of the Year
Urbon was a unanimous selection for Rookie of the Year, as well as a unanimous choice for All-Ivy first team relief pitcher. The freshman was a key factor in Cornell’s Ivy League Championship Series win and upcoming NCAA Championship appearance. Urbon came out of the pen on 20 occasions, posting nine saves, three wins and a stellar 0.52 earned run average. He struck out 20 over 34.1 innings of work and limited opposing batters to a .160 average. Urbon led the League in saves and ranked tied for first in games finished (19) and second in appearances. He is tied for 47th nationally in saves and ranks tied for fifth nationally among freshman in saves.

Urbon’s best performance of the regular season came in a must-win situation for the Big Red. In the final game of the year, Urbon pitched a career-high 6.1 innings in relief in Cornell’s 12-inning victory at Princeton that sent the Big Red to the League Championship Series. Urbon was a two-time Honor Roll recipient (April 10 and April 24) and earned Rookie of the Week honors on May 1. He is the first Rookie of the Year from Cornell since his head coach, Bill Walkenbach, earned the award in 1995.

First-Team All-Ivy
Dartmouth led the way with four first-team All-Ivy recipients, including one unanimous selection in junior designated hitter Ennis Coble (Atlanta). Coble earned his second-straight All-Ivy award after being named to the second team last season. He batted .311 (42-of-135) with 24 runs, four doubles, one triple and 16 RBI. He ranks fourth in the League with 10 hit by pitches and is ninth with an on-base percentage of .419.

Joining Coble on the first team from Dartmouth is senior outfielder Jake Carlson (The Woodlands, Texas), senior shortstop Joe Sclafani (Palm City, Fla.) and sophomore first baseman Dustin Selzer (Houston). Carlson received his second All-Ivy honor and his first since 2010, when he was named to the second team. He led his team in batting average (.397) and hits (52) while recording 30 runs, four doubles, three triples, two home runs and 19 RBI.

Sclafani capped a stellar four-year career with his fourth All-Ivy honor and his third on the first team. He was also named Rookie of the Year in 2009. The senior led his team in runs (32), doubles (13) and walks (27), tied for the lead with three triples and finished second with 47 hits. He also recorded two home runs and 24 RBI. Selzer received his first All-Ivy honor after batting .324 (46-of-142) with 30 runs, 11 doubles, two triples, five home runs and a team-high 41 RBI.

Princeton and Columbia each finished with three first team recipients. Lions senior pitcher Pat Lowery (Oakdale, Conn.) and senior third baseman Jon Eisen (Nashville, Tenn.) joined Pizzano, while Tigers senior catcher Sam Mulroy (Bethesda, Md.) and sophomore utility player Alec Keller (Richmond, Va.) joined Hermans.

Lowery got back to the 2010 form that saw the senior earn Pitcher of the Year and first-team All-Ivy honors. He was the best starting pitcher in the League in ERA in 2012 (2.35) and ranked fifth in opposing batting average (.241) and seventh in strikeouts (46). He threw two complete games and one shutout. Eisen recorded a League season-best 18-game hitting streak in 2012 and finished the year with a .360 batting average (54-of-150) with 37 runs, nine doubles, 12 RBI and 13 stolen bases. He earned his second All-Ivy honor after being named Honorable Mention in 2010.

Cornell sophomore pitcher Connor Kaufmann (Midlothian, Va.) was the other Big Red to be named to the first team, along with Urbon. Kaufmann led his team with seven wins, including a no-hitter of Dartmouth on April 1, the 12th no-hitter in Ivy League history and the first since Princeton’s Steven Miller accomplished the feat against Cornell on April 27, 2008. Kaufmann was a three-time Pitcher of the Week winner en route to his first career All-Ivy award.

Harvard senior second baseman Jeff Reynolds (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Penn senior outfielder Greg Zebrack (Northridge, Calif.) round out the rest of the first team, as each was named first team for the second-straight year. Reynolds batted .333 (54-of-162) with 21 runs, 13 doubles, one triple, three home runs and 24 RBI. He led the Crimson in hits, doubles and RBI and tied for the team lead in triples and home runs. Zebrack hit .343 (47-of-137) with 34 runs, 18 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 28 RBI and 10 stolen bases. He was Penn’s leader in runs, doubles, home runs, RBI and steals.

Brown and Yale each placed two players on the second team, as the Bears' infield duo of sophomore second baseman J.J. Franco (New York) and freshman third baseman Nick Fornaca (San Diego) joined Bulldogs’ senior pitcher Pat Ludwig (Okemos, Mich.) and sophomore utility player Cale Hanson (Bay Shore, N.Y.).

Player of the Year
Dario Pizzano, Columbia (Jr., Saugus, Mass.)

Pitcher of the Year
Zak Hermans, Princeton (Jr., Coppell, Texas)

Rookie of the Year
*Kellen Urbon, Cornell (Fr., San Diego)

First-Team All-Ivy (14)
P – Zak Hermans, Princeton (Jr., Coppell, Texas)
P – Pat Lowery, Columbia (Sr., Oakdale, Conn.)
P – Connor Kaufmann, Cornell (So, Midlothian, Va.)
RP – *Kellen Urbon, Cornell (Fr., San Diego)
C – Sam Mulroy, Princeton (Sr., Bethesda, Md.)
1B – Dustin Selzer, Dartmouth (So., Houston)
2B – Jeff Reynolds, Harvard (Sr., St. Petersburg, Fla.)
3B – Jon Eisen, Columbia (Sr., Nashville, Tenn.)
SS – Joe Sclafani, Dartmouth (Sr., Palm City, Fla.)
OF – *Dario Pizzano, Columbia (Jr., Saugus, Mass.)
OF – Jake Carlson, Dartmouth (Sr., The Woodlands, Texas)
OF – Greg Zebrack, Penn (Sr., Northridge, Calif.)
UTL – Alec Keller, Princeton (So., Richmond, Va.)
DH – *Ennis Coble, Dartmouth (Jr., Atlanta)

Second-Team All-Ivy (13)
P – Brian McAfee, Cornell (Fr., Bothell, Wash.)
P – Pat Ludwig, Yale (Sr., Okemos, Mich.)
P – Mike Ford, Princeton (So., Belle Mead, N.J.)
RP – Thomas Olson, Dartmouth (Fr., Manhattan, Kan.)
C – Brandon Lee, Cornell (Sr., Mission Viejo, Calif.)
1B – Alex Black, Columbia (Jr., The Woodlands, Texas)
2B – J.J. Franco, Brown (So., New York)
3B – Nick Fornaca, Brown (Fr., San Diego)
SS – Jake McGuiggan, Harvard (So., Hingham, Mass.)
OF – Brian Billigen, Cornell (Sr., Carnegie, Pa.)
OF – Chris Cruz, Cornell (So., Bay Shore, N.Y.)
OF – Ryan Deitrich, Penn (Jr., Spring City, Pa.)
UTL – Cale Hanson, Yale (So., Katy, Texas)

Honorable Mention All-Ivy (19)
P – Vince Voiro, Penn (Sr., Cherry Hill, N.J.)
P – Matt Bowman, Princeton (Jr., Chevy Chase, Md.)
P – Rick Marks, Cornell (Sr., Big Flats, N.Y.)
P – Stefan Olson, Columbia (Jr., Ladera Ranch, Calif.)
P – Mitch Horacek, Dartmouth (So., Highlands Ranch, Colo.)
P – Nolan Becker, Yale (Jr., New York)
P – Adam Frank, Dartmouth (Fr., Gilbert, Ariz.)
C – Austin Bossart, Penn (Fr., O'Fallon, Ill.)
1B – Frank Hager, Cornell (Sr., Berkeley Heights, N.J.)
1B – Kevin Fortunato, Yale (So., Wall, N.J.)
2B – Brenton Peters, Cornell (Jr., Leesburg, Va.)
3B – Ben Swinford, Cornell (So., Lake Oswego, Ore.)
3B – Kyle Larrow, Harvard (Jr., Carver, Mass.)
SS – Matt Bowman, Princeton (Jr., Chevy Chase, Md.)
OF – Jeff Keller, Dartmouth (So., Atherton, Calif.)
OF – Nick Ferraresi, Columbia (Jr., Wellington, Fla.)
OF – Will Marcal, Brown (Fr., Lexington, Mass.)
OF – Stephen Harrington, Princeton (Jr.. Philadelphia)
UTL – Kevin Tatum, Cornell (Fr., Woodbridge, Va.)

*-Unanimous selection