FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks (6-2) secured a series-opening 5-1 victory over a tough Murray State Racers (6-2) squad on a sunny first day of March at Baum-Walker Stadium.
A week removed from tying the program record for strikeouts in a game (17) during a 5-4 win over No. 7 Oregon State, Arkansas ace Hagen Smith sat down 12 Murray State batters on strikes and he retired 18 of the 20 batters he faced.
"It’s tough, whenever you have an outing like he had last weekend, which for some people it’s once in a lifetime," head coach Dave Van Horn said of Smith postgame. "But I don’t think with him it’s going to be... I thought he threw the ball extremely well."
Smith gave up a leadoff homer to start the game, and didn't give up another hit over the next six innings, plus he retired each of the last 11 batters he faced. The junior left-hander allowed just one base runner via a walk, and he struck out the side twice. Smith threw 81 total pitches and 54 of them were strikes. His ERA is now 2.77 on the season.
“It’s something special," left fielder Jayson Jones said of Smith. "You say you can see over and over again. This guy, we played in the fall and the spring. It is definitely something special to see.”
After scoring 21 runs on 20 hits Tuesday against Grambling, the Razorback lineup went back to struggling a bit Friday. The Hogs totaled just seven hits on the day and they were 5 of 14 with runners on base and 3 of 10 with runners in scoring position.
Right from the start, Smith's outing looked like it might be much different than last weekend against Oregon State. Murray State leadoff batter Drew Vogel took the Arkansas lefty deep to right on the second pitch of the game to tag Smith for his first earned run since Opening Day against James Madison.
"I thought Hagen — you know — he didn’t go crazy," Van Horn said. "I think probably more than anything it might have been like a little slap in the face and got him upset and then he went to work."
Smith retired the next three batters in a row to get out of the first just giving up the one run on 15 pitches. The Arkansas lineup faced a similar fate, going down in order against hard-throwing Murray State starter Cade Vernon in the bottom half of the first inning.
The stuff was on point and the slider was untouchable for Smith in the top of the second, as he retired the Racers in order on three straight strikeouts.
Arkansas' lineup fed off Smith's electric second inning by plating three runs in the bottom half. Jayson Jones had a 110 mile per hour two-RBI double to right, while Peyton Holt drove in the third run with an RBI fielder's choice to make it 3-1 after two innings.
"He really got his hands inside the ball and just shot it down that right-field line," Van Horn said of Jones' hit. "He does that a lot in batting practice when we’re working on going the other way and through the middle. He’s got a knack for doing that with an inside fastball if he’s not on it, so to speak, or he’s out front and guessing. That was a big swing for us."
WATCH: Hagen Smith, Jayson Jones, Gabe Gaeckle postgame - Arkansas 5, Murray State 1
Murray State stranded a one-out runner in the top of the third, while the Hogs stranded a pair of two-out runners in the bottom of the frame to make it a scoreless inning.
Smith worked a perfect frame in the fourth and added two more strikeouts to his line. The Hogs tried giving him more run support with a one-out single from Holt, who advanced to third before he was stranded via a Hudson White fly out.
The top of the fifth proved to be arguably Smith's best, as he struck out the side for the second time on the day. Once again, the Arkansas lineup went down in order and was held scoreless for the fourth time in five frames to keep the score 3-1 entering the sixth.
Smith once again worked a 1-2-3 frame in the top of the sixth, and it ended up being his last. Right-handed reliever Koty Frank came in the game in the top of the seventh after the Hogs went down in order at the plate in the bottom of the sixth.
Frank was on pace for an immaculate inning by starting with a pair of three-pitch strikeouts, but he hit the next batter to put a two-out runner on before stranding the runner with another strikeout. Again, the Hogs' lineup went down in the order against Vernon, who was at 99 pitches after seven innings.
Frank gave up a leadoff double and then hit the next batter to put two on with no outs to start the eighth. After picking up an out on a fielder's choice, Frank was relieved by freshman right-hander Gabe Gaeckle, who struck out the two batters he faced.
Conway, Arkansas, native Thomas McNabb took the mound for Murray State in the top of the eighth and gave up two runs on two hits before being taken out with two outs. The Racers got out of it via a Peyton Holt strikeout against reliever Alex Elsing.
Gaeckle ran into a pair of one-out baserunners in the top of the ninth, but his fourth strikeout of the game stranded the runners and earned him his second save of the season.
"His stuff was good," Van Horn said of Gaeckle. "He was still throwing the ball right around the plate. Fastball was electric and had a pretty good breaking ball going, especially, it seemed like when he got a couple strikes on guys, they didn’t want to go down swinging.
"They fouled off a couple of pretty good pitches. Got to give them credit, but his stuff was good. If he had gotten into a jam, he was in a little bit of a jam, but the tying run didn’t get to the plate. If it had been tying run at the plate, and if it had been a left-hander, we probably would have gone left-left to get that last one."
Up next, the Razorbacks and Racers will meet for Game 2 of the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville. The game will be available to stream on the SEC Network+.
