ARLINGTON, Texas — When Dave Van Horn told reporters that he wasn't worried about his left-handed ace Hagen Smith's rough performance on Opening Weekend, the Arkansas skipper likely didn't have Smith putting on a record-tying performance against the 7th-ranked team in the nation Friday.
Inside the familiar confines of Globe Life Field, Smith put on the best performance of his career by tying the Razorback program record for strikeouts in a single game by sitting the Beavers down on strikes 17 times. Smith held the nation's No. 7 team scoreless for six frames and he walked just one batter while giving up three singles.
"We knew he was going to pitch good tonight," head coach Dave Van Horn said. "We didn’t know if he was going to win the game or what. We just knew he’d pitch well. He’s really good. That’s the way he pitched in the fall, his bullpens looked like that, he holds his stuff and we play with a lot of confidence when he’s on the mound.
"Everything was working. I mean, he started flashing a changeup there late. I don’t know. We’ll see how he does next week, but it’ll be hard to ever top that one."
Each of Smith's first 15 outs recorded came via a strikeout. It wasn't until the sixth inning that he recorded an out that wasn't a strikeout. Six of his strikeouts came on three pitches and eight were four-pitch strikeouts. He threw 78 total pitches and 59 of them were thrown for strikes, which means he had just two more balls thrown (19) than strikeouts (17).
The performance, which was also the most strikeouts in Globe Life Field history, was much better than a 42-pitch first inning that saw Smith give up three runs in his only frame of work to open the season against James Madison a week ago.
"I just felt good," Smith told FloSports postgame. "After my first outing, obviously that’s not who I am, so I wanted to go out there and prove I could do it."
The top of the first inning from Smith can be described by one word: gas. The junior lefty sat around 99 miles per hour on his fastball and he struck out three of the four batters he faced, including MLB Pipeline's No. 3 overall 2024 MLB Draft prospect Travis Bazzana.
Arkansas didn't do anything in the bottom of the first, and Smith proceeded to give up a single to start the top of the second. It was no problem, though, as the Bullard, Texas, native struck out the next three batters in a row to strand the runner and push his game total to six strikeouts.
Second baseman Peyton Holt hit into a 6-4-3 double-play to make the Hogs go down in order in the bottom of the second. Smith continued to have his offense's back by striking out the side again in the top of the third to tie his career-high with nine strikeouts by that point.
Arkansas threatened in the bottom of the third when a Kendall Diggs single pushed Ty Wilmsmeyer to third and put runners on the corners with one out. Oregon State ace Aiden May responded by retiring the next two batters, including Ben McLaughlin, who lined out to first on a ball hit 102 miles per hour off the bat to strand both runners.
As if striking out the side in each of the first three innings wasn't enough, Smith did so once again in the top of the fourth to strand a pair of baserunners. Two of his strikeouts took just three pitches, and he had a new career-high 12 total K's through four frames.
Again, the Razorbacks were unable to provide their ace with run support in the fourth. May was throwing filth as well, and he picked up a pair of strikeouts in a perfect bottom of the fourth to keep the game scoreless.
Smith wasn't going to be topped, as he struck out the side on 13 total pitches in the top of the fifth. By that point, he was two more strikeouts from tying the program record for most in a single game, and he was keeping the Hogs alive by silencing a dangerous Beavers lineup.
When May had to exit the game with an apparent injury in the bottom of the fifth, the Razorbacks had two runners on with one out, and they were looking to capitalize. Relief pitcher Nelson Keljo walked Kendall Diggs to load the bases, and he then gave up a bases-clearing double to McLaughlin two batters later to make it a 3-0 lead for the Diamond Hogs after five innings.
Smith's first out that wasn't via a strikeout came via an impressive play from Holt at second to start the top of the sixth. The left-hander then struck out the next two batters to tie the program record for most in a single game (17) and bring an end to his historical outing.
"That’s just one of those games that you sit back and admire it," Holt said of Smith. "You don’t see many performances like that, ever. So, it was pretty fun to watch. He was pumped, we were pumped. It was a good game, he did really well."
Arkansas plated an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth via an RBI single from Jayson Jones, but the Beavers got back a pair of runs in the top of the seventh after Razorback reliever Will McEntire entered the game.
The Beavers made Smith yesterday's news quickly with a game-tying two-run moonshot from Mason Guerra in the top of the eighth off of Arkansas closer Gage Wood, who relieved Stone Hewlett after the Kansas transfer faced just two batters.
The Diamond Hogs came to the aid of Wood in the bottom half, as Holt hit a go-ahead RBI triple 411 feet to the wall in center to make it 5-4 entering the top of the ninth.
Wood earned the first out in the bottom of the ninth, but then Van Horn made the surprise decision to go to junior righty Jake Faherty for the final two outs. The hard-throwing right-hander struck out both batters he faced to earn the save and secure the win.
"That was huge, especially for him and for the team," Smith said of Faherty. "It was awesome to see him go out there and compete. We all saw him the whole fall, spring scrimmages that he can do it. It was good to see that he did it."
As for Smith, he's now up to 19 total strikeouts on the year after Friday's game. He's sure to load up on weekly honors from around the country next week.
Up next for the Diamond Hogs is a matchup with the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT at Globe Life Field. The game will be streamed on FloSports and you can watch with a subscription to the streaming service.
