SEC Pitcher of the Year Hagen Smith was at the forefront of Arkansas’ rotation and atop the national leaderboard all season long in 2024. Currently, Smith leads the country with a .144 batting average against while striking out a nation-leading 17.25 batters per nine innings. His 161 total strikeouts are second most in the country and best in the SEC; his 2.04 ERA paced the conference and was fourth in the nation.
The junior had a 1.35 conference ERA -- which was nearly two full runs lower than the next best ERA -- and struck out 110 batters in 60 innings of conference play, the most in the SEC. Smith had 11 games with double-digit strikeouts in 2024, including a 17-punchout game against Oregon State in February. He allowed zero runs in eight of his 16 outings, finishing the season with a 9-2 record.
Smith becomes the fourth Golden Spikes Award finalist in program history and would be the third winner for the Hogs, joining Andrew Benintendi (2015) and Kevin Kopps (2022).