Florida Gators junior closer extraordinaire Michael Byrne was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year on Saturday. The award was announced at TD America Park in Omaha, Nebraska, the site of the College World Series where Byrne and his Gator teammates will start play Sunday. The award is presented annually by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association to the nation’s top relief pitcher.

Byrne has had a terrific two year run as the Gators closer as a two-time All-American and All-SEC First-Team selection for each of the last two seasons.

After setting a team season record with 19 saves a year ago, Byrne returned to throw well again in 2018, posting a 1.59 ERA this season over 56.2 innings of work. He appeared on the mound 34 times striking out 60 and walking just five. Opponents have batted just .192 against Byrne in 2018.

Byrne is the first Gator to receive the Stopper of the Year award since its inception in 2005 and his 34 saves is a career record at Florida. He is expected to return for his senior season in 2019.

Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan often struggles at times to describe just how Byrne gets the job done. He isn’t a high velocity fastball guy like most closers, he just knows how to pitch the edges and get batters out.

After a win over Vanderbilt back on March 31, O’Sullivan was shaking his head in trying to convey to the listening audience from an interview just how the Florida junior can work his magic on the mound.

"Vintage Michael, he ended up breaking the record tonight,” O’Sullivan said that night following the game. “21 pitches, 17 strikes – that’s just what he does. He comes in and gets two outs in the eighth on just four pitches. He’s got no pulse. I don’t know how to explain it. We talk about it constantly, all the time after games. Michael was Michael again.”

Byrne has shown the ability to come in and throw one hard inning and strike three out, or like he did in the Super Regional Game 3 that went extra innings, he threw four innings of shutout ball to push the Gators to a 3-2 win going 4.0 shutout innings, striking out five, and collecting his third win of the season in the process.

Byrne has a 1.88 earned run average in 85 career appearances. He has 168 strikeouts with only 23 walks in 148.1 innings in three years at Florida.

He is only one of two players at Florida selected as finalists for the award, the other being Shaun Anderson in 2016. Byrne was also a finalist last year when he set the single season save record for the Gators.

A 14th round selection of the Cincinnati Reds earlier in the month, Byrne is expected to return to Florida for his senior season and maybe in a starting role.