I Must Leave Razorbacks Baseball Star ace Hagen Smith Says He Want To Leave” For Having Issues With The Coach

LUBBOCK, Texas – The College Baseball Foundation’s National Pitcher of the Year Award, which goes to the top pitcher in college baseball, has Arkansas’s Hagen Smith on its shortlist.

The left-hander for the Razorbacks is one of five finalists for the college baseball equivalent of the Cy Young Award, along with right-handers Trey Yesavage of East Carolina, Ryan Johnson of Dallas Baptist, Jamie Arnold of Florida State, and Chase Burns of Wake Forest. The winner of this year’s prize will be revealed on June 20.

Smith concluded the 2024 season with a 9-2 record, 2.04 ERA, and 161 strikeouts in 84.0 innings over 16 starts, establishing himself as the best pitcher in all of college baseball. After going 7-0 with a 1.35 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 60.0 innings over 10 SEC starts, the junior pitcher was named the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year. During the season, the pitcher set a record with 17.3 strikeouts per nine innings, ranking 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).

In his historic 2024 campaign, the native of Bullard, Texas, became the program’s all-time career strikeout king and single-season strikeout leader. He also recorded a program-record 11 double-digit strikeout games and a team-leading 11 quality starts. Smith, who increased his career strikeout total to 360, moved atop the program’s single-season strikeout leaderboard (161) and passed former Razorback great David Walling, who recorded 155 strikeouts in 1999. Smith also passed Schmidt, 345, for sole possession of Arkansas’ career strikeout mark.

In the Kubota College Baseball Series at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on February 23, Smith tied the record for most strikeouts in a single game in Arkansas history with his 17-strikeout masterpiece on 78 pitches over six shutout innings. It was one of the best pitching efforts in program history. Smith, using 40 less pitches than Razorback great Jess Todd did on May 24, 2007, in the SEC Tournament, tied Todd’s single-game strikeout record of 17.

Smith would join Kevin Kopps (2021) as the second Razorback in program history to win National Pitcher of the Year. With two from LSU and two from Oregon State, Arkansas would be just the third university to have won numerous awards.