Senior Season — 2016
Byrne earned his third career All-Ivy League second team honor. Though the accolade came with the label of a relief pitcher, he also made five starts among his 12 appearances. He led the team with four victories against two losses, and his 4.00 ERA ranked second among qualifying pitchers. Five of Byrne's seven appearances in Ivy League play came in relief, where he posted a 2-1 record with a 2.31 ERA and seven strikeouts in 11.2 innings of work. His first Ivy win came April 2 against Harvard, when he slammed the door on the Crimson with four scoreless innings. The following weekend at Yale, Byrne yielded just one hit in six scoreless innings. He became the first Big Red player to earn first or second team All-Ivy honors three times since third baseman Nathan Ford did so 2007-09, and he is the first Cornell pitcher to do so since the Ivy League started sponsoring baseball in 1993.
Junior Season — 2015
Byrne was a mainstay in the Cornell rotation during his junior season on the East Hill, making eight starts and ten apperances. His 45 strikeouts were a team-high during the 2015 campaign and his 9.07 career strikeout per nine innings ratio puts him at fourth on the all-time list at the school. His impressive .229 career batting average against mark puts him at elite company as the program's second best all-time. Would-be base stealers have had a difficult time against Byrne with only .545 of runners finding success, which puts him at second all-time going into his senior campaign. He also finished fourth on the squad with 35 2/3 innings pitched and had a complete game on March 22 when he had 11 punchouts in a 2-1 loss. His lone victory on the season came in Cornell's final game against Canisius on April 29 when he threw two scorelss innings against the Golden Griffs in relief.
Sophomore Season — 2014
Byrne was part of the Big Red's powerful 1-2 starting pitching punch, posting a 1.86 earned-run average and team-high 49 strikeouts. His 3-4 record is deceiving, as two of his losses were of the 1-0 variety -- including a complete game against eventual Ivy League champion Columbia on April 19. Byrne worked 21 innings before surrendering an earned run, including six-inning starts at Navy, George Washington and James Madison to start the season, Of his eight starts, he surrendered more than one earned run in just two of them. Just like in his rookie season, Byrne was at his best in Ivy League play. He had a 1.72 ERA over five league starts, fanning 33 and holding opposing hitters to a miniscule .161 average. He tied a career-high with eight strikeouts in each of his final four starts, including six scoreless innings April 12 at Penn. The Big Red went on to win that game, 9-0, to hand the Quakers their first Ivy loss of the season.
Freshman Season — 2013
Byrne saw a variety of roles, from late-game reliever to middle reliever to weekday starter to, ultimately, a top-tier weekend starter. But no matter the role, he was effective — finishing the season with a 3-2 record, and two saves en route to a spot on the All-Ivy League Second Team. Byrne's earned run average of 1.09 was seventh-lowest for a single season in program history for pitchers appearing at least 30 innings, and his incredibly stingy opposing batters' average of .160 is the lowest on record. He also struck out 29 batters in just 33 innings of work. He earned the Ivy League Rookie of the Week honor after his first Ivy League start against Penn, when he no-hit the Quakers for seven innings after the visitors took a quick 1-0 lead. Byrne then capped off his season with a career-high seven strikeouts in six innings' work, earning the win to cap an April 26 doubleheader sweep at Princeton.
Prior to Cornell
Byrne saw action as both a pitcher and first baseman with Langley HS, earning second-team all-district honors as a junior and first-team all-district honors as a senior. He was also a member of both the National Honor Society and Math Honor Society.
Personal
Michael Edward Byrne is the son of Eric and Diane Byrne, and he has two younger brothers. He is enrolled in the College of Engineering.
