Arkansas duo of Smith and Aloy shine in Friday scrimmage after being named to Golden Spikes Watch List
on 2024-02-09 20:25 PM
BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON
Arkansas pitcher Hagen Smith and shortstop Wehiwa Aloy showed once again Friday afternoon why they were two of the 55 college and high school baseball players nominated to the Golden Spikes Award watch list earlier in the day.
The Golden Spikes is awarded each season to the nation’s best amateur and was won by Arkansas outfielder Andrew Benintendi in 2015 and Razorback pitcher Kevin Kopps in 2019.
Smith fanned seven in three shutout innings, allowed two hits and did not walk a batter as his White team downed the Cardinal 9-2 in an eight-inning scrimmage Friday, exactly a week ahead of the team’s 3 p.m. season opener with James Madison at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Smith, a Golden Spikes semifinalist last season, is a consensus preseason All-American and the D-1 and Baseball America’s SEC’s Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
He was 8-2 last season with a 3.64 ERA, a team-leading 109 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings and limited opposing batters to a .217 batting average.
Aloy, a transfer from Sacramento State who was a Freshman All-American last season, singled, walked and scored two runs for the winners on Friday.
The Hawaii native hit .376 last season with 14 home runs and 46 RBIs, 88 hits, 15 doubles, 5 triples and 69 runs scored.
Benintendi won the Golden Spikes after hitting .376 as a sophomore, hitting a nation’s best 20 homers and stealing over 20 bases.
He won the award over fellow semifinalists Dansby Swanson and Carson Fulmer and LSU’s third baseman.
Kopps was 12-1 with 11 saves while posting a nation’s low and school-record 0.90 ERA 0.76 WHIP, striking out 131 batters in 89 2/3 innings of work and holding foes to .162 batting average.
• • •
Friday Arkansas baseball scrimmage update:
First pitch slated for 3 – LHPs Hagen Smith and Mason Molina set to start
Peyton Holt at 2B, Jared Sprauge Lott at 3B for White
Cardinal
Edmonson CF
Lovitch LF
Helfrick C
Souza SS
Polk
Robninett 3B
Waid
Rowland DH
Grimes RF
White
Holt 2B
White C
Diggs RF
Aloy SS
McLaughlin DH
Wagner 1B
Jones LF
JSL 3B
Wilmsmeyer CF
• • •
Top 1
Holt is playing 2B for both teams when he is not batting to get as many reps as possible with Stovall out
Cardinal
P Hagen Smith
Will Edmonson 1B
Ross Lovitch K and Edmunson thrown out trying to steal
Ryder Helrick K
Bottom 1
P Mason Molina
Peyton Holt 6-3
Hudson White 1B
White goes all the way to third on wild pick off throw
Kendall Diggs BB
Wehiwa Aloy BB to load bases
Ben McLaughlin 2-run single (White 2, Cardinal 0)
Jack Wagner 6-4-3 DP
White 2, Cardinal 0
• • •
Top 2
P Hagen Smith
Nolan Souza 4-3 (Great play by Holt)
Hudson Polk K
Reese Robinett 2B (Jayson Jones crashes into wall trying to make catch- staying in)
Ty Waid K
White 2, Cardinal 0
Bottom 2
Molina P
Jayson Jones 6-3
JSL F-8
Ty Wilmsmeyer IF 1B (swiging bunt)
Holt FC 6-4
White 2, Cardinal 0
• • •
Top 3
Hagen Smith P
Parker Rowland K
Hunter Grimes reaches via E-5 (JSL)
Edmunson K
Lovitch K
White 2,Cardinal 0
So far for Hagen Smith – 3 IP, 0 runs, 2 hits, 7 Ks, O BB
Bottom 3
Mason Molina P
White F-8
Diggs BB
Aloy 1B, Diggs to second
Wagner RBI single, Diggs scores, Aloy to third (White 3, Cardinal 0)
Aloy scores on WP (White 4, Cardinal 0)
Molina 3 IP, 4 runs, 5 hits, 2K, 3 BB
• • •
Top 4
Cardinal
Jake Faherty P – takes over for Hagen Smith
Ryder Helfrick BB (picked off 1-3-6-4)
Nolan Souza K
Hudson Polk 1B, but Diggs guns him out from RF when he tries to stretch it into a 2B
White 4, Cardinal 0
Bottom 4
White
Koty Frank P
JSL 4-3
Wilmsmeyer 2B
Holt 4-3 moves runner to third
White RBI single (White 5, Cardinal 0)
Diggs K
White 5, Cardinal 0
• • •
Top 5
Faherty P
Robinett 2B – his second double in as many at bats
Waid K
McEntire comes in to pitch – throws one pitch and…Grimes F-8
White 5, Cardinal 0
Bottom 5
Frank P
Aloy 4-3
McLauglin L-9
Wagner K
White 5, Cardinal 0
• • •
Top 6
McEntire P
Edmunson 1B
Lovitch K
Helfrick IF 1B – moves Edmunson to second
Souza RBI 1B (White 5, Cardinal 1)
Polk 4-3 plates Helfrick (White 5, Cardinal 2)
Robinett U-3
White 5, Cardinal 2
Bottom 6
Frank P
Jones BB
JSL P-3 foul
Gage Wood P
Wilmsmeyer BB
Holt BB
White 2-run 1B (White 7, Cardinal 2)
With Diggs batting, a double steal results in two runs when Helfrick throws to second and no one was covering the bag (White 9, Cardinal 2)
Diggs K
Aloy K
White 9, Cardinal 2
• • •
Top 7
McEntire P
Waid K
Rowland 4-3
Grimes 2B
Edmunson K
White 9, Cardinal 2
Bottom 7
Wood P
McLaughlin 6-3
Wagner 5-3
Jones K
(White 9, Cardinal 2)
• • •
Top 8th
McEntire still P
Lovitch P-4
Helfrick K
Souza K
And we’re done
Final:
White 9, Cardinal 2
Photo courtesy of Arkansas baseball
(Last updated: 2024-02-09 20:25 PM)