HawgBeat - Hagen Smith named finalist for two prestigious awards
Arkansas junior pitcher Hagen Smith has been named a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy.
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Arkansas junior pitcher Hagen Smith has been named a finalist for both the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Hoswer Trophy following his SEC Pitcher of the Year campaign in 2024 for the Razorbacks.
Both awards are given each year to the top players in college baseball, as the Golden Spikes Awards annually honors the top amateur baseball player in the nation who best exhibits exceptional on-field ability and exemplary sportsmanship.
Given in memory of the former Florida State All-America shortstop and major league player and manager who died of brain cancer in 1987, the Dick Howser Trophy is presented annually by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association to the top player in college baseball. It is regarded by many as the baseball equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
As the Razorbacks' ace this season, Smith owned a 9-2 record, 2.04 ERA and 161 strikeouts in 84.0 innings over 16 starts. In conference play, the left-hander was 7-0 with a 1.35 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 60.0 innings over 10 starts.
The Bullard, Texas, native broke the NCAA-record with 17.3 strikeouts per nine innings on the season and finished ranked 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).
Smith ace is one of five finalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, joining Oregon State's Travis Bazzana, Georgia's Charlie Condon, Florida's Jac Caglianone and Wake Forest's Chase Burns. The 37th Dick Howser Trophy will be presented at 10 a.m. Friday, June 14, at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb.
Smith would be the third Razorback in program history to win the Dick Howser Trophy, joining outfielder Andrew Benintendi (2015) and pitcher Kevin Kopps (2021), both of whom also won the Golden Spikes Award.
Bazzana, Condon and Smith are the three finalists for the 46th Golden Spikes Award, which will be presented at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 22, on ESPN ahead of Game 1 of the College World Series.
A final ballot will be sent to the Golden Spikes Award voting body consisting of national baseball media, select professional baseball personnel and USA Baseball staff, and the previous winners of the award, totaling a group of more than 100 voters.
From Wednesday, June 5, to Monday, June 10, the voting body will cast their final vote for the Golden Spikes Award winner and fan voting will simultaneously be open on GoldenSpikesAward.com.
