Hagen-Smith hit No. 17 as the No. 4 Arkansas baseball team beat No. 7 Oregon State

ARLINGTON, Texas – Arkansas' Haagen-Smith had one of the greatest pitching performances in program history on Friday night, but it took some late heroics for the Razorbacks to pull off a big early-season win at Globe Life Field.

Peyton Holt's two-run triple off the center field wall in the eighth inning scored Wehiwa Aloi to give Arkansas the lead and the fourth-ranked Razorbacks defeated seventh-seeded Oregon State 5-4.

Arkansas (4-1) won despite giving up four-run leads in the seventh and eighth innings.

Smith, a junior left-hander, tied a Razorbacks single-game record with 17 strikeouts. He only needed 18 points to get there.

Smith's six scoreless innings included 15 straight strikeouts to start the game. He tied the record when Oregon State's Gavin Turley was called looking at a 2-2 slider to end the sixth inning.

Right-hander Will McEntire replaced Smith in the seventh due to pitch counts. Smith threw 59 of 78 pitches for strikes and worked about 3 strikeouts and 1 walk.

Three of Smith's hits were against Travis Bazana, the Beavers' starting hitter and second baseman who Baseball America ranked as the No. 3 college prospect available for this year's MLB draft.

Smith entered the game ranked 13th in Baseball America's college prospect rankings but could move up draft boards after this type of outing in front of many scouts.

Smith tied an Arkansas single-game record that had stood for 17 years. Jess Todd struck out 17 South Carolina batters in 8 innings during Arkansas' 6-0 win over the Gamecocks on May 24, 2007, in the SEC Championship in Hoover, Ala.

It was a stunning rebound for Smith, who had been lifted after a 42-pitch first inning against James Madison the week before. Smith allowed three runs in that game played in frigid conditions.

Conditions were perfect inside Globe Life Field, the retractable-roof home of Smith's childhood team, the Texas Rangers, about 130 miles east of his hometown of Bullard, Texas.

In his career in the field, Smith has thrown 11 scoreless innings. He had five scoreless goals and no decisions during a 3-2 season-opening win over the Texas Longhorns last February.

Ben McLaughlin's triple double with two outs in the fifth inning gave the Razorbacks a 3-0 lead. The drive to center field came on the first pitch that McLaughlin saw from lefty Nelson Kilgo, who replaced Oregon State right fielder Eden May in the middle of the fifth inning at bat. He left the field with the team coach.

Holt had hit with a pitch to start the inning, and Jared Sprague Lott followed with a single. Kendall Diggs drew a four-pitch walk with half the pitches coming from Maye and Kilgo.

Ryder Helfrick, the freshman starting as designated hitter for the first time, reached on a two-base error to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning. Helfrick scored when Jason Jones scored on the next at-bat to push the Razorbacks' lead to 4-0.

Oregon State (5-1) cut the deficit to 4-2 against McIntyre in the seventh inning. Brady Kasper singled and scored on a Dallas Macias double. Macias scored on a sacrifice fly.

Bazzana singled against Arkansas left-hander Stone Hewlett to lead off the eighth inning, and Mason Guerra hit a one-run home run against right-hander Gage Wood to tie the game 4-4.

Wood allowed a leadoff single to Trent Caraway in the ninth. After a groundout moved Caraway to second base, right-hander Jake Faherty allowed him to third on a groundout, but Faherty struck out Tanner Smith for the second out of the inning and Levi Jones to ground out the runner at third.

The Razorbacks' 23 hits broke a program record of 18 that had been set multiple times, most recently in 2021.

Why did Arkansas win?

The Razorbacks shut down a great lineup for the most part and had a pair of two-run hits that yielded four runs.

Player of the Match: LHP Hagen-Smith

Was there any doubt?

Smith had a performance for the ages in a field that means so much to him. Most of the high hit totals come on nights with high pitch counts. He averaged nearly one strikeout per 4 1/2 pitches.

turning point

Oregon State appeared to have tied the game again in the ninth inning before Jake Faherty came out of the bullpen to record his first save.

Faherty inherited a runner at second base and threw a wild throw to give the Beavers a chance for a sacrifice fly.

Feherty, who threw once in 2022 and 2023, never came close to being involved in this type of pressure-packed situation in college.

Next

Arkansas will play Oklahoma State on Saturday at 7 p.m

The Cowboys (3-2) have won twice at Globe Life Field this week, including a 9-3 win over Michigan on Friday.