No. 3 Arkansas shut out by No. 5 Texas A&M in 11 innings as Hagen Smith makes history

No. 3 Arkansas suffered its first loss in a game started by Hagen Smith this season as the Razorbacks fell 1-0 in 11 innings against the No. 5 Texas A&M Aggies in the series opener in College Station, Texas.

The Hogs outhit the Aggies 9-5 but couldn’t come through with a run while leaving 10 runners on base. The Razorbacks were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, and the only Texas A&M run came as a result of a leadoff walk that was brought in by a bases-loaded walk.

Here’s a closer look at the action as the Diamond Hogs fell to 42-11 on the season and 19-9 in SEC play.

Gorilla of the Game

Ty Wilmsmeyer: 2-4, SB

Offensive production has been a little sparse this year from the Arkansas outfield, but the Hogs got a strong effort from Ty Wilmsmeyer out of the nine spot Thursday as he manned center field.

Wilmsmeyer lined a leadoff single to right field in his first at-bat before reaching via bunt single down the first-base line in the eighth inning then stealing a base. He also reached via error in the 10th and got to third on a base hit before the following two Hogs punched out.

His work didn’t lead to a Razorback run, but it will likely buy him some more time in the Arkansas lineup, particularly in games with Smith on the mound.

Most Valuable Arm

Hagen Smith: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 14 K

Against the best lineup he’s faced this season, Smith put together one of the best outings of his brilliant career while cementing his place in Razorback history forever. In the fifth inning, he broke the program record for career strikeouts (now up to 349), passing Nick Schmidt with his 11th punchout of the night.

The junior from Bullard, Texas, which is roughly 90 minutes from College Station, lowered his season ERA to 1.52 while bringing his season strikeout total to a whopping 150 in 77 innings. Given the opponent, stakes in the game and rainy conditions early, you could make a real argument this was the best performance in Smith’s All-American campaign. And that’s saying a lot for a guy who has a 17-strikeout game this year against another elite offense.

The only silver lining for Hog fans in Arkansas squandering a master class from its top pitcher is that we no longer live in a society that pretends win/loss record is a meaningful way to judge a pitcher’s success, so we are allowed to acknowledge that this was an objectively awesome showing despite it being in a losing effort.

Other Notes & Observations

• Arkansas tallied five hits against Texas A&M starter Ryan Prager but couldn’t scratch across a run in 7 innings while punching out 9 times, 7 of which came in the first 3 innings. The Aggie left-hander exited the game after 101 pitches, leaving the regular season with a 2.47 ERA.

• Both teams turned to its top bullpen arm in the 8th inning as Texas A&M brought in left-hander Evan Aschenbank, with Arkansas countering with freshman righty Gabe Gaeckle. Aschenbank wound up getting the win with 4 strikeouts in 4 scoreless innings, and Gaeckle struck out 3 Aggies in 2 2/3 scoreless innings of work before turning it over to Stone Hewlett.

• Arkansas did not issue a walk in the first 10 innings before Jake Faherty issued a one-out walk in the 11th. A base hit to Jace LaViollete put runners on first and third with one out, which led to Parker Coil getting the call from the bullpen and punching out Texas A&M slugger Braden Montgomery. But after falling behind 2-0, Coil issued an intentional walk to Jackson Appel before Will McEntire entered and walked Ted Burton on five pitches to end the game.

• Christian Foutch season ERA counter: 0.93 after a scoreless frame in the 7th.