CARY, N.C. – Arkansas ace Hagen Smith has been named a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award.
The Golden Spikes Award, considered the most prestigious among college baseball’s national player of the year honors, recognizes the top amateur baseball player in the United States based on their athletic ability, sportsmanship, character and overall contribution to the sport. Smith is one of 25 semifinalists for this year’s Golden Spikes Award.
Smith, the 2024 SEC Pitcher of the Year, has made his case as the best pitcher in all of college baseball, posting a 9-0 record with a 1.52 ERA and 150 strikeouts in 77.0 innings over 14 starts this season. The junior left-hander, who is 7-0 with a 1.35 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 60.0 innings over 10 SEC starts, has a team-leading 11 quality starts and a program-record 11 double-digit strikeout games on the year.
The Bullard, Texas, native currently leads the country in ERA (1.52), hits allowed per nine innings (4.1) and strikeouts per nine (17.5). Smith, also a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and College Baseball Foundation National Pitcher of the Year Award, is ranked second nationally in strikeouts (150), fourth in WHIP (0.83) and 12th in victories (9).
Smith became the program’s all-time strikeout leader (349) in his final start of the regular season, overtaking Nick Schmidt (345) for sole possession of Arkansas’ career strikeout mark. He also continues to climb the program’s single-season strikeout leaderboard, sitting five shy of Razorback great David Walling’s single-season record of 155 in 1999.
Smith, the first two-time Golden Spikes Award semifinalist in program history, is vying to become the third Razorback to win the prestigious award. Arkansas has had two Golden Spikes Award winners in program history – outfielder Andrew Benintendi (2015) and pitcher Kevin Kopps (2021) – and is one of only six schools, along with Florida State (4), Arizona State (3), Cal State Fullerton (3), LSU (2) and San Diego State (2), with multiple Golden Spikes Award winners.
The 2024 Golden Spikes Award timeline is as follows:
• May 20: Golden Spikes Award semifinalists announced, and fan voting begins
• June 3: Golden Spikes Award semifinalists fan voting ends
• June 5: Golden Spikes Award finalists announced, and fan voting begins
• June 21: Golden Spikes Award finalists fan voting ends
• June 22: Golden Spikes Award winner announced Fan voting will again play a part in the Golden Spikes Award in 2024.
Fans can vote for their favorite players on GoldenSpikesAward.com. USA Baseball will announce the finalists for the award on June 5, and fan voting will once again open at GoldenSpikesAward.com before closing on June 21.