Despite Shorter Start, Razorbacks' Smith Still Develops Aura at SEC Tournament
HOOVER, Ala. — Despite taking his first loss in an Arkansas uniform in almost a full calendar year in a 9-6 loss to Kentucky to dump the Razorbacks out of the SEC tournament, Hagen Smith's body of work has commanded respect from the coaches across the conference.
Kentucky coach Nick Mingione used a rather interesting boxing analogy to try and fire up his team facing Smith for the second time this year. The Razorback ace struck out 14 Wildcats the first time in Lexington en route to a 10-3 win on May 3.
"Does anybody know who Buster Douglas is?" Mingione said one of his assistant coaches told the team before the game in a in-game interview. "What's he known for? He knocked down Mike Tyson. 'They asked him, how did you do it?' He said, 'The same punches I was hitting him in the second, I was hitting him in the tenth and I eventually got him.'"
Thankfully Mingione didn't have to worry about that as Smith lasted just two innings and turned in his shortest outing of the year since opening day. Kentucky was still able to touch him for two unearned runs and forced a throwing error on a pickoff attempt from Smith. Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn insisted that Smith was fine and it was more or less planned to take his ace out early despite his velocity being down.
"I think probably a little amped up," Van Horn said. "Left some things up, fastball up. Just not real sharp. I think he got a little frustrated.
That's about what we wanted him to throw right there, 35, 40 pitches, two to three innings, max. We thought, hey, that's enough. So give him a little opportunity to have a couple days' rest more than normal leading into next weekend Hagen is Hagen. He's good. He'll be ready to go."
Although the start was abbreviated for Smith, Mingione wanted to make sure his players didn't fall into the same trap as they did three weeks ago in Lexington.
"I don't care," Mingione told his hitters. "He might strike us out 14 more times but he's going to strike us out differently."
Smith's reach goes beyond even his opponents, when Tennessee coach Tony Vitello was asked what challenges the Texas A&M lineup presents that followed the game between the Hogs and the Razorbacks, he had quite the answer.
"Law of percentages says over the course of nine innings you're not going to hold this type of teams [Texas A&M} unless you have Hagen Smith throwing for you." Vitello said before the game.
Smith with his 1.48 ERA on the season and the rest of the Razorbacks will now wait patiently to find out which teams they will face in the NCAA Regional. The selection show is 11 a.m. Monday and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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DANIEL SHI