ARLINGTON, Texas – UTA senior right-hander Andrew Gross has been named to the Midseason Watch List for the 15th Annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, the NCBWA announced Wednesday afternoon.

The NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award is given annually to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I Baseball.

The Chandler, Ariz. native is 1-1 with a nation-leading 16 saves on the season, posting a 1.91 ERA, .256 opponent batting average and 35 strikeouts in 33.0 innings. In Sun Belt play, Gross has 11 appearances, going 1-0 with eight saves and a 2.40 ERA.

This season, Gross became UTA's leader in single-season saves with his 15th save in UTA's 6-3 win over No. 19 TCU on April 16. The senior is closing in on the SBC single-season saves record of 18 (Hugh Adams - FAU, 2013).

Gross was one of 45 players named to the list. The midseason list includes five players who were on the preseason watch list released in February, including Stanford's Jake Little, who is the only returner among last year's five finalists for the award.

Among the newcomers to the watch list are the nation's top three saves leaders, including Gross (16), Illinois' Garrett Action (13) and Harvard's Kieran Shaw (12). Twelve players on the list have already registered double-digit saves, according to the latest NCAA stats.

There are 23 conferences represented on the list with the Southeastern Conference leading the way with seven relief pitchers. The Big Ten, Mountain West Conference and Pac-12 each have three on the list. The Sun Belt is represented by Gross and South Alabama's Zack Greene. 30 of the 45 on the watch list are upperclassmen.

The NCBWA, founded in 1962, presents the Dick Howser Trophy to the nation's top player. It also selects All-America Teams for all Divisions, a Division I Freshman All-American team, Division I, II and III Players of the Week and Division I, II and III Players of the Year.

2019 NCBWA STOPPER OF THE YEAR KEY DATES
• Wed., June 5: Stopper of the Year finalists announced
• Sat., June 15: Stopper of the Year winner announced
 

2019 NCBWA STOPPER OF THE YEAR MIDSEASON WATCH LIST
Garrett Action	Illinois	Jr.	Big Ten
Jaime Arias	Fresno State	So.	Mountain West
Evan Brabrand	Liberty	Sr.	A-Sun
Trey Braithwaite	Navy	So.	Patriot
Tyler Brown	Vanderbilt	So.	SEC
Parker Caracci	Ole Miss	R-Jr.	SEC
Jackson Cofer	UNLV	Sr.	Mountain West
Matt Cronin	Arkansas	Jr.	SEC
Fineas Del Bonta-Smith	San Jose State	Sr.	Mountain West
J.C. Flowers	Florida State	Jr.	ACC
Jacob Gilmore	Illinois State	So.	Missouri Valley
Cole Gordon	Mississippi State	Sr.	SEC
Nick Grabek	Fairfield	So.	MAAC
Zack Greene	South Alabama	Sr.	Sun Belt
Cody Greenhill	Auburn	So.	SEC
Andrew Gross	UT Arlington	Sr.	Sun Belt
Connor Hinchiffe	La Salle	Sr.	Atlantic 10
Alek Jacob	Gonzaga	So.	West Coast
Stephen Jones	Samford	Sr.	Southern
Kasey Kalich	Texas A&M	So.	SEC
Connor Knutson	Portland	Jr.	West Coast
Jack Little	Stanford	So.	Pac-12
Grant Leonard	Iowa	Jr.	Big Ten
Brandon Lewis	Abilene Christian	Sr.	Southland
Chris Lincoln	UC Santa Barbara	Jr.	Big West
Reeves Martin	New Orleans	Jr.	Southland
Jeremiah McCollum	Florida A&M	So.	MEAC
Hunter McGarry	FGCU	Jr.	A-Sun
Jack Mulholland	Oregon State	Jr.	Pac-12
Nathan Ocker	Charleston	Sr.	Colonial
Holden Powell	UCLA	So.	Pac-12
Taylor Rashi	UC Irvine	Sr.	Big West
Jason Ruffcorn	Oklahoma	Jr.	Big 12
Kieran Shaw	Harvard	Jr.	Ivy League
Zach Schneider	FAU	Sr.	Conference USA
Aaron Schunk	Georgia	Jr.	SEC
Braxton Smith	Louisiana Tech	Sr.	Conference USA
Carson Spiers	Clemson	Jr.	ACC
Chad Sykes	UNC Greensboro	Sr.	Southern
Jonah Ulane	Kansas	So.	Big 12
Fred Villarreal	Houston	Jr.	American
Jacob Wallace	UConn	Jr.	American
Willie Weiss	Michigan	Fr.	Big Ten
Connor Whalen	Southern	Sr.	SWAC
Chris Wright	Bryant	Jr.	Northeast

 
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