TEL AVIV -- Two Yale baseball alums -- catcher Ryan Lavarnway '09 and right-handed pitcher Ben Wanger '19 -- have made Team Israel's roster for the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games. A third Bulldog, Eric Brodkowitz '18, has been named as an alternate. The 24 man roster was announced July 5, with Olympic baseball competition set to begin July 27 in Japan.
 
All three Bulldogs have played for Team Israel before. Lavarnway was the team's starting catcher at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, helping Israel beat No. 3 South Korea and No. 4 Taiwan. He was named Pool A MVP and finished the WBC with eight hits in 18 at-bats. Brodkowitz and Wanger helped the team qualify for the Olympics by winning the Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier Tournament in September of 2019.
 
Lavarnway brings Major League Baseball experience to Team Israel's roster. He played for the Cleveland Indians earlier this year, the 10th time in the last 11 seasons he has made an appearance in the big leagues. The former sixth-round pick by the Red Sox made his MLB debut for Boston in 2011 and has also played for Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Oakland and Pittsburgh. 
 
A native of Woodland Hills, Calif., Lavarnway earned multiple All-America selections at Yale. In 2008 he was a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award and the Golden Spikes Award. That season he led the Ivy League in home runs (13), RBIs (42), walks (29), slugging percentage (.824) and on-base percentage (.541), setting the Ivy League career home run record (33).
 
Wanger, a native of Newton, Mass., was an All-Ivy League selection both as a hitter (first team in 2017, second team in 2018) and as a pitcher (first team in 2018). In 2017 he also earned first-team ABCA/Rawlings All-Northeast Region honors and was first team NEIBA All-New England. This past season he played for the University of Miami as a graduate student.
 
Brodkowitz, a native of Potomac, Md., went 12-5 over his final two seasons at Yale. In 2018, he was a unanimous first team All-Ivy League selection after he led the league with six victories without a loss in Ivy games. He earned the win vs. Penn in the 2017 Ivy League Championship clincher, allowing two earned runs in 5.2 innings.

Brodkowitz and Wanger were part of a memorable run with the Bulldogs, helping Yale win Ivy League titles in 2017 and 2018. The 2017 team set the school record for wins with 34 and won a pair of games in the NCAA Corvallis Regional.

Team Israel initially announced an expanded roster of 44 players in the spring. That roster has now been trimmed to 24 for the Olympics. Israel's players will gather in New York, where the team begins a series of exhibition games on July 11. 
 
This is the first time Israel will field a team in any team sport at the Olympic Games since 1976 (men's soccer). 
 
Six national teams will compete in baseball at the Olympics. Joining Israel are the Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and the United States. The teams are divided into two groups. Israel, ranked No. 24 in the world, is in Group B with No. 3 Korea and No. 4 USA. In the group stage teams play the other teams in their group once to determine seeding for the knockout stage. The double-elimination knockout stage takes place Aug. 1 through Aug. 7, culminating with the Gold Medal game.
 
Team Israel
Olympic Baseball Schedule
 
Thursday, July 29 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time/7:00 p.m. Japan Time: 
Israel vs. Korea
 
Friday, July 30 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time/7:00 p.m. Japan Time:
Israel vs. USA
 
Sunday, Aug. 1-Thursday, Aug. 5:
Knockout Stage: Round 1, Round 2, Round 1 (repechage), Round 2 (repechage) and semifinals
 
Saturday, Aug. 7:
Bronze Medal Game, Gold Medal Game