Smith Named NCBWA All-American
DALLAS – For the second year in a row, Arkansas ace Hagen Smith has been named a first-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
The junior left-hander, who was a consensus All-American in 2023, is the sixth two-time All-American in program history and the first since Razorback great Nick Schmidt (2006-07). Smith is the fourth Arkansas pitcher in history to garner All-America recognition in multiple seasons, joining Phillip Stidham (1990-91), David Walling (1998-99) and Schmidt.
Smith made his case as the best pitcher in all of college baseball, completing the 2024 campaign with a 9-2 record, 2.04 ERA and 161 strikeouts in 84.0 innings over 16 starts. Named the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year after going 7-0 with a 1.35 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 60.0 innings over 10 SEC starts on the mound, Smith led the country with an NCAA-record 17.3 strikeouts per nine innings on the season and finished ranked first nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (4.4), second in strikeouts (161), fourth in ERA (2.04) and seventh in WHIP (0.89).
The Bullard, Texas, native posted a team-leading 11 quality starts and logged a program-record 11 double-digit strikeout games on the year, becoming the program’s all-time career strikeout king and single-season strikeout leader during his historic 2024 campaign. Smith, who raised his career strikeout total to 360, overtook Schmidt (345) for sole possession of Arkansas’ career strikeout mark in addition to surpassing Walling’s single-season strikeout record of 155 set in 1999 to move atop the program’s single-season strikeout leaderboard (161).
In one of the greatest pitching performances in program history, Smith tied Arkansas’ single-game record with his 17-strikeout gem on 78 pitches over six shutout innings against Oregon State on Feb. 23 in the Kubota College Baseball Series at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Smith matched Razorback great Jess Todd’s single-game strikeout record (17), doing so in 40 fewer pitches than Todd threw against South Carolina on May 24, 2007, in the SEC Tournament.
Smith, who is a finalist for the prestigious Golden Spikes Award, Dick Howser Trophy and National Pitcher of the Year Award, was previously named the NCBWA District 7 (Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana) Player of the Year.
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