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UA’s Smith earns another top honor | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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UA’s Smith earns another top honor | Arkansas Democrat Gazette


FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas junior Hagen Smith was named the National Pitcher of the Year on Wednesday by the College Baseball Foundation.

The honor continued a rich postseason for the decorated junior, who is regarded as one of the top pitchers available for the Major League Baseball Draft next month in Arlington, Texas.

Smith, a left-hander from Bullard, Texas, won the honor, considered the Cy Young Award of baseball, over Florida State’s Jamie Arnold, Wake Forest’s Chase Burns, Dallas Baptist’s Ryan Johnson and East Carolina’s Trey Yesevage, the other finalists.

A first-team All-SEC choice and the SEC pitcher of the year, Smith has already been named the Pitcher of the Year by Perfect Game and earned first-team All-American honors from Perfect Game and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association of American.

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Smith is a finalist with Georgia’s Charlie Condon and Oregon State’s Travis Bazzana for the Golden Spikes Award, given to the best player in college baseball, which will be announced on Saturday. He was also a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, which Condon won last Friday.

This season, Smith finished with a 9-2 record and a 2.04 earned-run average with an NCAA-record 17.3 strikeouts per nine innings. He also led the nation with 4.4 hits allowed per nine innings.

In SEC play, Smith notched a 7-0 record with a 1.35 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 60 innings over 10 starts. He had 161 strikeouts to break David Walling’s Arkansas single-season record of 155 from 1999. Smith also had 360 career strikeouts to surpass Nick Schmidt’s previous record of 345.

Smith also tied the UA single-game strikeout record with 17 on just 78 pitches in six shutout innings in a win over Oregon State at the Kubota College Baseball Series in Arlington, Texas, on Feb. 23. He tied the record held by Jess Todd, who did it on 118 pitches against South Carolina at the 2007 SEC Tournament.

Smith is the second Arkansas pitcher to win the College Baseball Foundation award, joining Kevin Kopps (2021).

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Award winners

 A list of the players named as Pitcher of the Year by the College Baseball Foundation:

2024 Hagen Smith, Arkansas

2023 Paul Skenes, LSU

2022 Cooper Hjerpe, Oregon State

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2021 Kevin Kopps, Arkansas

2020 No award (Covid-19 pandemic)

2019 Ethan Small, Mississippi State

2018 Luke Heimlich, Oregon State

2017 Steven Gingery, Texas Tech

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2016 Eric Lauer, Kent State

2015 Carson Fulmer, Vanderbilt

2014 Aaron Nola, LSU

2013 Jonathan Gray, Oklahoma

2012 Mark Appel, Stnaford

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2011 Trevor Bauer, UCLA

2010 Alex Wimmers, Ohio State

2009 Stephen Strasburg, San Diego State



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Arkansas

No. 1 Arkansas leads SEC Indoor after first day finals

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No. 1 Arkansas leads SEC Indoor after first day finals



COLLEGE STATION – A victory in the 5,000m by Nick Busienei and third place in the distance medley relay had No. 1 Arkansas leading the team score with 18 points on the first day of the SEC Indoor Championships.

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The Razorbacks produced 12 of those points in the 5,000m as Nick Busienei won the race in a meet record of 13;31.86, which ranks him No. 7 on the UA all-time list. Busienei bettered the meet record of 13:37.52 set by Razorback Patrick Kiprop in 2025.

James Sankei added two more points in placing seventh with a time of 13:44.57.

Dating back to 1992 when Arkansas competed in its first SEC Indoor meet, Busienei claimed the 21st title for the program and is the 14th Razorback to win the indoor 5,000m.

Six more points were added in the distance medley relay as Arkansas posted a time of 9:30.84 from the foursome of Owan Logorodi (2:58.46), Zyaire Nuriddin (46.51), Julian Carter (1:49.10), and Brian Masai (3:56.77).

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South Carolina won the race in 9:30.08 with Ole Miss runner-up in 9:30.34. Florida originally placed third in 9:30.37 but was disqualified for spiking the baton at the conclusion of the race.

Jelani Watkins led the Razorback crew in the 200m prelims as three Arkansas sprinters advanced to the final. Watkins produced an indoor career best of 20.42 rank second overall to a 20.38 by Florida’s Wayna McCoy. Watkins remains No. 2 on the UA all-time list as he improved his previous time of 20.43.

Dapriest Hogans followed with a 20.63 that equaled his career best and his No. 8 ranking on the UA all-time list. Tevijon Williams clocked 20.65 to reach the final where 20.71 was the cutoff time. Jamarion Stubbs ran 20.87 in his prelim heat.

Cooper Williams completed the first day of the heptathlon in sixth place with 2,862 points. He started with a 7.43 in the 60m (736), then added a 21-9.5 (6.64) long jump (729). In the shot put, a mark of 36-8.25 (11.18) picked up 557 points. Williams wrapped up day one by topping the field in the high jump with a clearance of 6-8.25 for 840 points.

Link Lindsey placed 15 in the long jump with a mark of 23-6.75 (7.18).

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The wall goes back up: Arkansas embraces defiant isolation

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The wall goes back up: Arkansas embraces defiant isolation


“Arkansans have been made better economically, intellectually and socially by letting go of the ‘terrified truculence’ toward outsiders in recent decades. Sadly, as we’ve experienced this sad winter, all signs are that many similar seasons of defiant isolation are in our state’s future,” writes political scholar Jay Barth.



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Man arrested in Arkansas connected to Jan. 2026 fatal hit-and-run in Dallas

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Man arrested in Arkansas connected to Jan. 2026 fatal hit-and-run in Dallas


Authorities in Arkansas have arrested a man accused of being behind the wheel during a January car crash that left one man dead.

Suspect arrested in Arkansas for Dallas hit-and-run

What we know:

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U.S. Marshals tracked down 22-year-old Enrique Hernandez in De Queen, a southwest Arkansas town about three hours away from Dallas and an hour north of Texarkana.

Hernandez has been charged with collision involving death, a second-degree felony, in connection with the case. He is currently being held in an Arkansas jail before he is transferred to a jail in Dallas County.

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What we don’t know:

Dallas police haven’t said if the suspect has any ties to the victim or the area of Arkansas where he was arrested.

The backstory:

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The fatal hit-and-run occurred around 3 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 11 near W. Davis St. and N. Westmoreland Dr. in Dallas.

26-year-old Johnathan Rodriguez was dropped off by friends outside his Dallas neighborhood early Sunday morning after celebrating his birthday.

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Surveillance video shows Rodriguez in the media area of the road when a dark-colored SUV hits him and drives away.

Rodriguez was left with severe head trauma, later dying from his injuries.

A bittersweet victory for the family

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What they’re saying:

John Rodriguez, the victim’s father, struggled to find the words to describe the news he received.

“It’s not going to bring him back, bring my son back,” Rodriguez told FOX 4’s Peyton Yager. “It hurts every day, every minute. I wake up every morning, and he is not here. We are really going to miss him.”

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The Rodriguez family worked with police to help find their son’s killer. They found more surveillance video near the scene of the accident that helped authorities find and arrest Hernandez in Arkansas.

“We are going to fight for justice. Long live Johnny, and we are going to keep on fighting,” Rodriguez said.

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The Source: Information in this story came from current and previous FOX 4 reporting.

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