Czyz wins highest national reliever award

Don Czyz was named the 2006 Stopper of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association on Thursday.

The announcement caps off a monumental week for Czyz, Kansas’ senior right-handed closer.

On June 2, Czyz was named a Louisville Slugger First Team All-American and recorded his NCAA-leading 19th save of the season. Then Czyz was selected in the 7th round of the MLB Amateur Draft by the Florida Marlins on Tuesday.

The other finalists for the award were Oregon State left-handed junior Kevin Gunderson, Georgia sophomore right-hander Josh Fields, Cal State Fullerton sophomore right-hander Vinnie Pestano and Rice sophomore left-hander Cole St. Clair. Heading into super regional play this weekend, Gunderson has 16 saves, Fields has 15, Pestano has 13 and St. Clair has 11.

In addition to his staggering save total, Czyz finished the 2006 season with a perfect 6-0 record, 1.56 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 63.1 innings.

Czyz also finished his career with several career and single season records. Czyz owns the Big 12 and Kansas career appearances record with 128, the Kansas single season appearances record with 37, the Kansas career saves record with 30 and the Kansas single season saves record with 19.

 

Related articles

Live from the bullpen

From three relief pitchers to more than six, the Kansas baseball team ...

/news/2008/feb/21/bullpen/

Kansas to face competitive Oklahoma State

When the two teams played each other two years ago, they combined ...

/news/2008/apr/25/kansas_face_competitive_oklahoma_state/

Success marks 2006 season

The Kansas baseball team entered the 2006 season set on finishing in ...

/news/2006/jun/14/success_marks_2006_season/

Linnen and Czyz selected to Kansas Athletics ...

Pole vaulter Amy Linnen and pitcher Don Czyz will be inducted into ...

/news/2011/may/09/linnen-and-czyz-selected-kansas-hall-fame/

Pitching rotation deep for Kansas baseball

Last season, the Kansas baseball team started two sophomores and a freshman ...

/news/2008/feb/20/pitching_rotation_deep_kansas_baseball/

Junior pitcher keeps it all together

Despite an inconsistent weekend rotation, pitcher Nick Czyz has remained a constant ...

/news/2008/may/01/baseball/

Jayhawks to play Baylor in Waco

Kansas heads to Waco to play in its third series in Big ...

/news/2008/apr/04/baseball/

Baseball experiences cloudy games in Florida

Almost all the games, victory or loss, were close in score, excluding ...

/news/2008/mar/24/baseball/

Huskers win first game of series

Nebraska's seventh inning propels it to a 7-6 victory against Kansas.

/news/2008/apr/19/huskers_win_first_game_series/

Strong-handed players

The wind usually blows into left field at Hoglund Ballpark, giving right-handed ...

/news/2008/feb/22/balance/

Solid wins for Jayhawks in March

The Jayhawks kick-off spring break with a three game series against the ...

/news/2008/mar/14/baseball/

Kansas baseball debuts new starting rotation

New prospective freshmen are playing their first game in Nashville this weekend

/news/2012/feb/16/baseball-debuts/

Razorbacks complete weekend sweep

Kansas' hopes of stealing a game from Arkansas in its weekend series ...

/news/2007/mar/12/baseball_sider/

In Brief

Weather forces cancelation of another game against Oral Roberts

/news/2008/may/08/brief/

Offenses explode in Game one against Oklahoma

Kansas outlasted Oklahoma 17-15 in the highest scoring conference game since 1998 ...

/news/2008/may/03/offenses_explode_game_one_against_oklahoma/

Starting pitcher remains unbeaten

Kansas starter Andres Esquibel got plenty of run support as he picked ...

/news/2007/mar/14/baseball_sider/

Kansas snaps six-game losing streak

A solid all-around performance propelled the Jayhawks to a 9-5 victory against ...

/news/2008/apr/12/kansas_snaps_sixgame_losing_streak/

New faces to fill old places

/news/2006/jun/21/new_faces_fill_old_places/

Jayhawks drafted into the Major Leagues

Between the draft, summer leagues and contract negotiations, the baseball team had ...

/news/2007/aug/17/bbnotes/

Left out

Left-handers face adversity in a right-handed world.

/news/2007/sep/27/left_out/

Kansas baseball hopes to improve for the ...

The Jayhawk baseball team hasn’t started a season at 2-4 since 1999. ...

/news/2008/feb/29/baseball/

Pitching gets Kansas the victory

With subpar performance at the bat, pitcher Sam Freeman had to take ...

/news/2008/mar/26/pitching_gets_kansas_victory/

Jayhawks enter season with experience

Putting last season’s disappointment behind them, team members look forward to a ...

/news/2008/jan/29/baseball/

Baseball notebook: March 12, 2008

Notes about Kansas baseball after their victory against Tabor College.

/news/2008/mar/12/baseball_notebook_31208/

Former Kansas pitcher honored

After a record-breaking college career and impressive first season, pitcher Smyth receives ...

/news/2010/jan/22/pitcher-honored/

Jayhawks head to Stillwater, face Friday ace

Oklahoma State's Andrew Heaney is a future first round pick in the ...

/news/2012/apr/05/jayhawks-head-stillwater-face-friday-ace/

Kansas starts strong, loses edge

/news/2005/mar/28/sports_baseball_game/

Shockers defeat Jayhawks 6-4

Kansas’ loss to No. 14 Wichita drops the Jayhawks season to 25-19. ...

/news/2008/apr/23/shockers_defeat_jayhawks_64/

Bullpen works for WSU, not for Kansas

The Jayhawks and Shockers tried the same move in Wednesday night's baseball ...

/news/2007/mar/15/baseball_sider/

Tricky Infielders lead Kansas to victory

A bizzare play in the 10th inning led Kansas to a series-opening ...

/news/2008/mar/08/tricky_infielders_lead_kansas_victory/

KU KSU Gameday

/news/2006/apr/21/ku_ksu_gameday/

Starting pitching struggles against Baylor

Bears sweep weekend series scoring 33 runs against the Jayhawks’ 16; Kansas ...

/news/2008/apr/07/baseball/

Kansas wraps up island series

/news/2005/feb/10/sports_baseball_island/

Relievers called on early

Jayhawk baseball team was able to get the win despite disappointing performance ...

/news/2007/mar/08/baseball_sider/

Jayhawks drop game, weekend series to Aggies

Sunday's loss against Texas A&M brings the Jayhawks to a 1-5 record ...

/news/2008/mar/31/jayhawks_drop_game_weekend_series_aggies/

Stanford Cardinal sweep Jayhawks

/news/2005/feb/14/sports_baseball_sweep/

Baseball wrap-up

Here's a look at the baseball team's games in Hawaii.

/news/2008/feb/25/baseball_wrap/

Baseball loses for second straight game

The weekend series against the Wildcats gave the Jayhawks a chance to ...

/news/2007/may/07/baseball_sider/

No. 24 Kansas drops second game in ...

Sophomore T.J. Walz recorded his shortest start of the season as the ...

/news/2009/apr/19/no_24_kansas_drops_second_game_lubbock/

Kansas rolls St. Mary 13-0

Senior Matt Berner’s offensive moves helped the team move to 19-13.

/news/2008/apr/03/baseball_gamer/

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Sign in to comment