College students, get a year of HawgBeat coverage for just $11.95! Request details via email from your school account (.edu) to andrewhutchinson413 (at) gmail (dot) com.
FAYETTEVILLE — Less than a week removed from a tough outing in Round Rock, Hagen Smith turned in arguably the most impressive outing of his young career.
The heralded freshman failed to make it through the third inning against Stanford, but bounced back by putting together a quality start in Arkansas’ 4-2 win over Southeastern Louisiana in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Working at his usual quick pace, the left-hander pitched a career-high seven innings and struck out nine. A two-run homer from the Lions’ Preston Faulkner was just the second hit Smith allowed on the day and it accounted for both of the earned runs he gave up.
It was a drastically different outing than when he gave up three earned runs and allowed eight of the last 10 batters he faced to reach base the previous Sunday against the Cardinal. Head coach Dave Van Horn said it was a learning moment for the freshman.
“I was asked that I think the other day about how I thought he would do and I felt like he would have a really good outing,” Van Horn said. “It was his first time on the road against a team that was amped up and he was amped up a little bit and he lost his command a little bit and they hit him.
“Short outing and I think he learned a lot from it. I feel like all week he prepared mentally and physically to get out there and pitch and he had a great outing.”
From the first pitch of the game, Smith was all business. He sat the Lions’ leadoff man, Evan Keller, down on three straight strikes to establish what would be a dominant first six outs on 22 pitches.
Smith recorded two strikeouts and forced batters into four straight fly outs to left field in the first two innings. After giving up a lead off single to start the third, Smith bounced back with three straight strikeouts to bring his total to five through three innings.
It wasn’t until the fourth that he found himself in some trouble. Smith put three of the first four batters on base with free passes — a leadoff HBP and two walks — to prompt a mound visit from pitching coach Matt Hobbs.
He had already erased one of the base runners with a pickoff, but eventually got Christian Garcia to groundout to end the inning. He then made quick work of Southeastern Louisiana in the fifth with another two groundouts and his sixth strikeout of the day.
“He had that one little period there where he might have lost his feel,” Van Horn said. “Coach went out there and talked to him. He threw a ball, then he kind of got it back together and the next inning he was really good. That’s what you’ve got to do.”
After the Lions scored seven runs in the sixth inning Friday, they struck once again in the sixth during Game 1 Saturday. A leadoff walk was followed up by a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, but before Smith could get out of the inning, Faulkner crushed the aforementioned home run to tie the game at 2-2 and potentially give the freshman a no-decision.
It looked like Smith’s day might be done after that mistake, as reliever Zebulon Vermillion had been warming in the pen for a while, but Smith took the mound once again in the seventh.
A two-pitch groundout started the seventh and Smith ended his outing with two strikeouts on 11 pitches to bring his total to nine on the afternoon. The extended effort by Smith carried over to the bats, when catcher Michael Turner hit a laser off the Hunt Center in the bottom half of the inning to make it a 4-2 game and earn Smith the win.
“I thought he was phenomenal,” Turner said. “That fastball was running up to…97 and I know his slider was working a lot better than it has in the past so far. I thought he was a lot more accurate today and I think that helped him get a lot farther into the game than what we’ve seen so far.”
Smith nearly hit triple digits for total pitches, but fell just short with 97. He showed control issues at times — walking three batters and hitting one — but for the most part, his command was great. He threw 61 strikes while keeping up his fast-pace work on the mound.
Arkansas scored one run in the third and fourth innings, providing Smith with just two runs of support, but the freshman continued to pump 92-94 mph fastballs, while mixing in his cutter, with confidence on the hill.
“I think the biggest thing was throwing good today because we had a loss yesterday and this was a big win,” Smith said. “I knew we were going to score today.”
With Saturday’s outing, Smith moved his strikeout total to 17 on the year and his ERA now sits at 2.93 through 15 1/3 innings.
The trifecta of Connor Noland, Smith and Jaxon Wiggins has looked great — aside from Smith’s start against Stanford in Round Rock — through three weekends. They have a combined 2.94 ERA and 1.18 WHIP with 53 strikeouts and only 18 walks in 49 innings.
Smith will likely start next Saturday in Game 3 against Illinois-Chicago. The four-game series with UIC is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. CT Thursday. All four games will be streamed on SEC Network-Plus.
