Heralded freshman Smith pitches gem in debut
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FAYETTEVILLE — After a tough Opening Day loss, the Razorbacks flipped the script Saturday afternoon with the help of Hagen Smith.
The freshman left-hander earned the victory in his first career start, as Arkansas took down Illinois State 5-1 at Baum-Walker Stadium. In six scoreless innings, Smith allowed five hits and one walk with five strikeouts on 77 pitches.
One might think nerves would be a factor for an 18-year-old making his debut at the college level, but Smith did his best to quell any anxiety on the mound.
“A little bit,” Smith said when asked if he had any nerves today. “It was more just anxious to get it over with.”
His goal to make quick work of Illinois State was evident in his approach.
Smith came firing out of the gate, attacking the strike zone with all three of his pitches and throwing 56 of his 77 pitches for strikes. He wasn’t holding back in an effort to throw strikes either, with his fastball sitting 92-94 mph and topping out at 95.
Going in with a goal of throwing first-pitch strikes and letting his defense work, Smith accomplished just that for all but three of the 22 batters he faced.
“If you’re throwing 60 percent first pitch strikes, you’re probably in good shape,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “If you’re throwing 80 or 85 percent, whatever that is, that’s big time, and you can go to work after that.”
Van Horn wasn’t the only member of the Arkansas squad to be excited with Smith’s mode of operation.
“There’s a lot of things that impress me about Hagen,” second baseman Robert Moore said. “Hagen can keep his pace for five, six innings and 80, 85 pitches. I would say that’s pretty impressive.”
The stat sheet might not reflect it, but it wasn’t smooth sailing for Smith throughout the entirety of the start. He found himself with a bases-loaded jam in the third inning, but was able to work out of it by changing his plan of attack.
“They kind of jumped on him a little bit early in the count, sitting on the fastball,” Van Horn said. “He came back and did a tremendous job. He pitched a little bit backwards compared to what he’s been doing. He threw a couple more breaking balls, changeups and fastballs in to finish a hitter.”
That resulted in Smith getting 2-hole hitter Aidan Huggins to fly out and preseason All-MVC selection Ryan Cermak to ground into a fielder’s choice that ended the threat.
The coaching staff’s high level of trust in the freshman was reflected by the decision not to pay Smith a visit during the jam.
“We’re not going to go out there unless we really have something we need to say,” Van Horn said. “But we have a lot of confidence in Hagen, and we’ve seen it since the day he walked in the door that he could help us right away.”
The excitement surrounding Smith’s prowess on the mound translated to an elevated energy level for the Razorbacks, which came to fruition with more than double the run output of Friday’s loss.
“I even told the team after the game, ‘It’s great that you had that energy,’” Van Horn said. “It just seemed like they were really pulling hard for him. I wanted to see him have a good outing, get off to a good start and he did. He gave us an opportunity to settle in a little bit.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s rubber match, the Razorbacks will turn to sophomore right-hander Jaxon Wiggins.
“Tomorrow is going to be an interesting game because both staffs have used a lot of guys,” Van Horn said. “We feel like we’ve got a lot of guys available, and I’m sure they’re got some guys hidden back there too.”
First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed on SEC Network-Plus.