The stakes weren’t that prime. And it solely lasted six innings. But it surely’s not hyperbole to name Hagen Smith’s efficiency Friday evening at Globe Life Subject in Arlington, Texas, probably the greatest within the historical past of school baseball — particularly when contemplating the standard of the opponent.
Arkansas’ junior left-hander struck out 17 batters in six innings (do the maths!), permitting three hits, one stroll and no runs within the Razorbacks’ 5-4 victory over Oregon State. Smith didn’t get the win — Arkansas broke a 4-4 tie with one run within the backside of the eighth — however he put faculty baseball within the nationwide headlines in a February sport at a serious league stadium with greater than 13,000 in attendance.
“It’ll be arduous to ever high Hagen’s outing,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn stated after the sport.
Smith, a preseason All-American and a projected first-round decide within the 2024 MLB Draft, entered the season with a ton of hype however struggled final weekend within the season-opener, permitting three earned runs in just one inning towards James Madison. He threw 42 pitches in that inning; on Friday evening — towards a top-10 opponent — he threw 78 pitches in six innings.
Across the horn
Oregon State was on the dropping finish of the “Hagen Smith Sport” on Friday evening, however the Beavers have clearly established themselves as probably the greatest groups within the nation. Mitch Canham’s membership, which has but to play a house sport, improved to 7-1 with a dominating 8-1 win over Oklahoma State on Sunday.
Travis Bazzana, a first-team preseason All-American, has been excellent. The junior second baseman from Australia is hitting .438 with eight extra-base hits, together with 5 residence runs, in solely 36 plate appearances. Final 12 months, Bazzana hit 11 residence runs in 306 plate appearances.
East Carolina beat North Carolina 10-9 on Sunday in thrilling trend to take the three-game collection from the Tar Heels. The 2 groups break up the primary two video games, with East Carolina successful 2-1 on Friday in Chapel Hill and UNC successful 7-4 on Saturday in a neutral-site sport in Fayetteville.
On Sunday, a wild sport was determined by a walk-off single from freshman Bristol Carter within the backside of the ninth.
THE TRUE FRESHMAN WALKS IT OFF @bristol_carter
PIRATES WIN!!!! pic.twitter.com/vqPfny8EFm
— ECU Baseball (@ECUBaseball) February 25, 2024
East Carolina additionally took two of three from North Carolina final season and holds a 6-5 benefit over the Tar Heels relationship again to the 2021 season.
LSU stubbed its toe on Friday towards Stony Brook, dropping 5-2, however bounced again with a 5-2 win over Northern Illinois on Saturday and an 18-10 win over Stony Brook on Sunday to enhance to 7-1.
It was Stony Brook’s second journey to Baton Rouge since its historic win over the Tigers within the 2012 Tremendous Regionals. The Seawolves performed within the Baton Rouge Regional in 2019, dropping to host LSU 17-3 within the opener en path to an 0-2 journey within the NCAA Event.
Alabama switch Luke Holman has been terrific in his first season at LSU. Holman is 2-0 and has not allowed an earned run in 12 ⅓ innings and has 18 strikeouts and just one stroll. Thatcher Hurd, who got here on late final 12 months in his first 12 months after transferring from UCLA, has struggled early this season. In two begins, Hurd has allowed seven earned runs in seven innings. He’s struck out 12 however has allowed 5 walks.
Indiana State, which received 45 video games and superior to its first-ever Tremendous Regional final season, is 7-0, with all seven wins away from residence. The Sycamores have two true street wins — at South Florida at FGSU — and neutral-field wins over Louisville, UConn, Michigan State and Marshall (two).
Pitching has been the story early within the season. Indiana State has a 2.08 ERA and has walked solely 15 batters in 65 innings.
The Sycamores play at Vanderbilt on Tuesday.
After getting roughed round a bit in a gap weekend sweep over Florida Gulf Coast,, TCU’s pitching employees allowed 9 runs (three in every sport) in a sweep over visiting UCLA.
In opposition to FGCU, the Horned Frogs’ three beginning pitchers (Payton Tolle, Kole Klecker and Zack Morris) mixed to surrender 15 hits and 12 earned runs in solely 10 innings — and not one of the three pitched greater than 4 innings. Within the UCLA collection, the identical three starters gave up 12 hits and 5 earned runs in 13 ⅓ innings.
Get away the brooms! 7-0! #FrogballUSA | #GoFrogs pic.twitter.com/SJlaCMQBdX
— TCU Baseball (@TCU_Baseball) February 25, 2024
It’s been a tough begin for Stanford, the one program within the nation to achieve the Faculty World Sequence in every of the final three seasons. The Cardinal are 2-5 after dropping a collection at residence to Penn State.
Stanford has a group ERA of 9.15, and the employees has walked 43 batters in 61 innings.
Penn State, in the meantime, is 4-2 beneath first-year coach Mike Gambino, who left his alma mater, Boston Faculty, to take over in State Faculty. The Nittany Lions haven’t had a successful file since 2016 (28-27) and have performed within the NCAA Event solely as soon as since 1976.
Iowa acquired stable begins from All-American Brody Brecht (two earned runs in six innings) and Cade Obermueller (no earned runs in 5 innings) over the weekend however nonetheless misplaced all three video games on the Jax Baseball Traditional in Jacksonville, Fla.
The Iowa bullpen allowed a complete of 21 earned runs and 26 hits in 12 innings.
The Hawkeyes, who entered the season ranked in most polls, are actually 2-4 after dropping to Auburn (7-5), Virginia (12-9) and Wichita State (12-6) over the weekend.
Iowa visits Ole Miss subsequent weekend.
Smith stole the headlines for his work on the mound in Arlington on Friday evening, however Florida State junior left-hander Carson Dorsey can be hanging out batters at a really excessive charge early this season. The switch from Gulf Coast State Faculty has struck out 15 batters in solely 5 ⅔ innings in two appearances out of the bullpen.
Dorsey was a starter in junior faculty and recorded 99 strikeouts in 66 ⅔ innings in 2023.
Two of the highest gamers within the Massive 12 are coping with early-season accidents. West Virginia shortstop JJ Wetherholt, thought of by many to be the perfect place participant within the nation, injured his hamstring within the remaining sport of the opening weekend and didn’t play this previous weekend towards Charlotte. The Mountaineers are 4-3.
Kansas State might be with out reliever Tyson Neighbors for a number of weeks as a consequence of a strained indirect, in accordance with ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. Neighbors posted some astounding numbers as a sophomore in 2023: 48 ⅔ innings, 22 hits allowed with 86 strikeouts and solely 16 walks. He had a 1.85 ERA and a 0.781 WHIP.
Kansas State, anticipated by some to problem for the Massive 12 title, is 4-3 after taking two of three from Holy Cross over the weekend.
And eventually …
• Texas didn’t permit a run in a three-game sweep over Cal Poly in Austin, recording wins of 2-0, 6-0 and 7-0. The Longhorns, 7-1, have a group ERA of 1.66.
• Virginia had a productive weekend in Jacksonville, choosing up wins over Wichita State, Iowa and beforehand unbeaten Auburn. The Cavaliers, who superior to the Faculty World Sequence in 2021 and 2023, are 7-0.
• Washington State is 6-1 beneath first-year coach Nathan Choate. The Cougars posted three high quality wins on the Karbach Spherical Rock Traditional in Texas over the weekend, beating Kentucky, Kansas and Texas State.
• The competitors hasn’t been nice, however Alabama is off to a 7-0 begin within the Rob Vaughn period. The Crimson Tide run-ruled visiting Valparaiso in all three video games en path to a weekend sweep.
• Arkansas State is 8-0 after recording three one-run wins over Lindenwood this weekend. The Crimson Wolves received at Ole Miss final Wednesday.
• There are two 0-8 groups after two weekends — Northern Colorado and Cal State Bakersfield.
• Texas A&M is hitting .359 as a group with an ERA of 0.76 en path to a 7-0 begin. Outfielder Jace LaViolette has 5 residence runs and is slugging 1.077.
(Picture courtesy of Arkansas Athletics)
