The lax player's situation is definitely a good one for Rick. The Ivy League's normal policy limits undergrads to the first 4 years of enrollment. Do they normally allow a gap in those first 4 years?
Your son is playing D3 baseball, right? You probably know this, but D3 (and D2) uses full-time semester, not calendar years, so I would think he could take the gap year and come back with his full compliment of seasons intact (assuming no overriding school or conference rules).