March 26, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--For the second time this season, Yale junior catcher Ryan Lavarnway has been named Ivy League Player of the Week. Lavarnway hit .467 (7-for-15) in five games at Presbyterian and Radford last week. He also slugged .867, hit two home runs and had eight RBIs.

Against Presbyterian on Thursday, he went deep in back-to-back at-bats for the second time this season. The first homer, a two-run shot to left, was his 27th career home run, breaking Tony Paterno's all-time Yale record. In his next at-bat, Lavarnway's three-run blast to left gave the Bulldogs a 9-8 lead. On Friday at Radford, his two-run single in the eighth tied the game at 7-7, and the Bulldogs eventually won 8-7.

Lavarnway shared Player of the Week honors with Princeton's Jack Murphy on March 11. This is his sixth career Player of the Week selection.

The Bulldogs (6-13) return to action on Wednesday with a 3 p.m. contest at Connecticut (9-10). Yale opens conference play this weekend with doubleheaders at Penn (6-7) and Columbia (4-14).

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity