Razorback Bats Spoil Smith's Historic Night in Loss
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — No. 3 Arkansas lost to No. 5 Texas A&M 1-0 in 11 innings, ruining starter Hagen Smith's historic night in a game that featured a 90-minute weather delay and finished at 11:48 p.m. with the game ending on a walk-off walk by Ted Burton off Will McEntire.
#OlsenMagic AFTER DARK 🪄🌙 pic.twitter.com/s0aXKoY21N
— Texas A&M Baseball (@AggieBaseball) May 17, 2024
"We just couldn’t get that big hit," Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. "We needed a big hit and we didn’t get it. Really, they didn’t get a big hit either. We walked them in. So it was disappointing."
Smith turned in another dominant outing, striking out 14 in six innings while breaking Nick Schmidt's school record of 345 career strikeouts. His fifth-inning strikeout of Ali Camarillo left him alone atop the hill as the Hogs' strikeout king.
The Razorback Strikeout King 👑
— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 17, 2024
No. 346 of Hagen Smith's career pic.twitter.com/yY7BSBoadI
"I've coached the only college pitcher to pitch in the College World Series and the Major League World Series [Brandon Finnegan in 2014] in the same year," Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "We just said in the locker room, that guy [Smith] is going to be pitching this October."
Smith's quest to break the Razorbacks' all-time strikeout record couldn't have gotten off to a better start as he struck out five of the first six hitters he faced, but Texas A&M's Ryan Prager matched Smith step for step with seven shutout innings of his own as neither team had many chances to score runs.
"It’s awesome," Smith said on breaking the record. "I obviously would have hoped to get that with a win. But It’s super cool to think about and hopefully we keep going."
However the bats could do nothing against Ryan Prager and Evan Aschenbeck, who combined for 11 innings of shutout baseball. Arkansas went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
The Razorbacks stranded a pair of one-out singles in the second and got the first two runners aboard in the sixth. Wehiwa Aloy then hit into a 4-3-6 double play to take the steam out of the inning and keep the Hogs off the scoreboard.
A two-out double in the sixth by Jace LaViolette was just the Aggies' second runner in scoring position and the first extra-base hit by either team. Smith struck out Braden Montgomery for the third time to end his night and turn the ball over to the Razorbacks' bullpen.
Multiple Arkansas hitters made bids for homers to centerfield, but on a damp, windy night, both Hudson White and Peyton Stovall's drives died on the warning track.
The Hogs got a gift in the top of the 10th with Burton misplaying a routine grounder to put Ty Wilmsmeyer on base for the third time. Peyton Holt then flared a single that put runners on the corners, but Stovall and Sprague-Lott struck out to keep the game scoreless before Arkansas finally blinked in the bottom of the 11th.
The Razorbacks' SEC West division lead is down to one game as the two teams meet again 7 p.m. Friday. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
HOGS FEED:
• Texas aces battle in series opener between Hogs, Aggies
• Tampering on the agenda at SEC meetings
• Van Horn sentimental about the end of an era
• Subscribe and follow us on YouTube
• Follow allHOGS on X and Facebook
DANIEL SHI