Smith Hagen

The national pitcher of the week, Hagen Smith, led No. 2 Arkansas (7-2) to a 5-1 victory over Murray State (6-3) on Friday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium. Smith struck out 12 batters in six innings of one-run play.

Smith moved up to sixth place all-time in the Arkansas record book for career strikeouts after increasing his total to 230. With two strikeouts remaining, the left-hander may tie Kevin Kopps’ record of 232 strikeouts for sixth place all-time in program history.

In Friday afternoon’s victory over the Racers, the Razorback pitching staff spun a combined two-hitter, anchored by Smith’s second straight double-digit strikeout performance. Koty Frank and Gabe Gaeckle, both right-handers, combined for three shutout innings of bullpen work and eight strikeouts; in all, Arkansas pitchers recorded 20 strikeouts for the afternoon.

The game began with a leadoff home run allowed by Smith, but he settled in to retire the next 18 of 19 batters he faced. In six innings, the left-hander struck out twelve batters on 81 pitches (54 strikes), giving up just one run on one hit and one walk.

Since Isaiah Campbell accomplished so in three consecutive games against Stony Brook (March 1), Louisiana Tech (March 8), and Missouri (March 15) in 2019, Smith is the only pitcher from Arkansas to have consecutive games with ten or more strikeouts.

In the second inning’s bottom half, Smith received run support from the Razorback offense, who scored three runs against Racer starter Cade Vernon. With the bases loaded, Jayson Jones doubled for two runs to give Arkansas its first lead of the afternoon. Peyton Holt then extended the Razorbacks’ lead with an RBI fielder’s choice to make it 3-1.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Arkansas added two more runs to seal the victory. First, Kendall Diggs scored on a groundout by Ben McLaughlin, and then Jared Sprague-Lott raced home on a passed ball. With two base hits, Wehiwa Aloy led the Razorback offense offensively. This was his third multi-hit game of the year.

Smith, who recorded his second straight great start and increased his record to 1-0 on the year, left the game after Frank and Gaeckle, who recorded his first career save in the victory, shut down the final three frames. Through nine games this season, Arkansas’s pitchers have amassed 133 strikeouts in 82.1 innings pitched, good for a 2.51 ERA.

The Hogs and Racers’ second game is set to begin at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 2, on SEC Network+. Arkansas’ starting pitcher will be Brady Tygart, a righty who is 1-0 with a 0.82 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 11.0 innings this season.