Hagen Smith Ready to Put Away Last Year's Razorback Postseason Demons

Arkansas' ace ready to wash bad taste out of his mouth from a year ago

Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher Hagen Smith throwing against the LSU Tigers on March 28, 2024, at Baum-Walker in Fayetteville, Ark. / Gunnar Rathbun-Arkansas Communications

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas pitcher Hagen Smith has picked up just about every pitching accolade possible up until this point in the season. He broke Nick Schmidt's program strikeout record. He's two strikeouts away from breaking David Walling's single-season program strikeout record. He's already a semifinalist for the DIck Howser and Golden Spikes awards. He was named SEC Pitcher of the Year and is a consensus top-10 MLB draft pick for 2024.

But in his first media appearance of 2024, Smith made clear the way last year ended wasn't good. He was on the mound for both games when the No.3 Razorbacks succumbed to the TCU Horned Frogs twice to crash out of the regional. The squad was sent packing after going 2-2 as the host team and losing the two games by a combined score of 33-9. Smith allowed nine earned runs across 4 2/3 innings pitched, as a promising season came to a sudden conclusion.

"Ever since last year we've just had a bad taste in my mouth a little bit," Smith said in January before the season got underway. "Especially the guys that have been here. We just want to go out there and compete again."

That motivation has by and large carried Smith to one of the greatest seasons ever by a Razorback pitcher. He hadn't taken a loss since the first game against TCU until his most recent start against Kentucky in the SEC Tournament. However, all of the glitz and glamour of a historic season will be followed with a sad epilogue if Smith can't atone for what gave him the extra motivation to begin with, pitching better in the postseason.

Coach Dave Van Horn said that Smith was fully ready to go for the regional and instead blamed a faulty stadium radar gun at the SEC Tournament in Hoover for the concerns that Smith's velocity may be down.

"Hagen’s velocity was still way up there as was what you were watching on TV," Van Horn said.
"You weren’t watching that goofy scoreboard and it was really messed up - easily four miles an hour slow. Because I had said something about it in game one to one of the coaches and [Pitching] coach [Matt] Hobbs said ‘Yeah, that thing is four to five miles an hour slow, all the scouts are getting a correct time on their radar guns.' He's fine."

Smith and the rest of the Razorbacks will get the opportunity to produce a better showing in a NCAA Regionals on the same field as the Hogs take on the Southeast Missouri Redhawks 2 p.m. Friday inside Baum-Walker Stadium. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

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