May 28, 2008

Five of college baseball's top relief specialists have been selected as finalists for the fourth annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, the NCBWA announced Wednesday. The list is led by NCAA saves leader Tyler Conn of Southern Miss.

This year's finalists also include Scott Bittle of Mississippi, Joshua Fields of Georgia, A.J. Griffin of the University of San Diego and Eric Pettis of UC Irvine. All five relief aces helped their respective teams advance to the 64-team field of the 2008 NCAA Baseball Tournament, which begins this weekend at 16 regional sites across the nation.

Conn, with an NCAA-leading and Conference USA single season record-breaking 18 saves, was an automatic qualifier for this year's award. The junior southpaw from Ocean Springs, Miss., is 1-0 with a 1.02 earned run average and 42 strikeouts in 26 relief appearances (35.1 innings pitched). The first team All-C-USA selection has converted on all 18 save opportunities while allowing but four earned runs and two extra-base hits in helping lead the Golden Eagles to a berth in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.

More than 50 of the nation's top collegiate relief pitchers were included in the selection process for this year's NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award, beginning with initial preseason nominations by baseball contacts at NCAA Division I schools. The NCBWA's All-America Committee will select the winner, which will be announced Wednesday, June 4, prior to the start of NCAA Super Regional competition.

In addition to the Stopper of the Year Award, the NCBWA, founded in 1962, also presents the Dick Howser Trophy to the nation's top player and selects a Division I All-America Team, Division I and III Players of the Week, Division I District Players of the year and Division III Players of the year.

Past recipients of the Stopper of the Year Award include J. Brent Cox of Texas in 2005, Don Czyz of Kansas in 2006 and Luke Prihoda of Sam Houston State in 2007.