Dave Van Horn praises Hagen Smith after strong outing in CWS elimination game

Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn placed freshman left-hander Hagen Smith on the mound in a win-or-go-home game against Ole Miss on Wednesday night and the young star delivered. He gave five innings with just two hits and four walks leading to one run, but added eight strikeouts along the way.

During the postgame press conference, Dave Van Horn had high praise for Hagen Smith’s ability to provide Arkansas with a strong start and respond to the challenge from the coaching staff by delivering timely strikeouts which held off Ole Miss.

“He’s had some really good outings, but it’s been at the end of the game for the most part,” said Van Horn. “As far as starting, he had a little bit of a roller coaster down the stretch. He has great stuff. Obviously I thought he was outstanding. He had two little spurts in there that he just lost the strike zone, and I think both times with two outs. Had a couple outs, four balls in a row, two balls on the next guy. Coach visits him, he throws three strikes for a real good strikeout. It seemed like it happened one other time, but other than that, he was pretty good.

“They fought him pretty good, got his pitch count up a little bit. For the most part, really proud of Hagen. He hadn’t been feeling good, sore throat, tested him for strep throat and a lot of things the last week, but he didn’t have it. You could even hear him talking a little different. So just a really good job.”

Updated College World Series odds

Ole Miss is hoping to send SEC foe Arkansas back to Fayetteville after evening the postseason record on Wednesday night. The Rebels had the upper hand in Monday’s game, winning 13-5 while chasing six Hogs pitchers. On Wednesday night, Arkansas wrapped up the 3-2 win despite loading the bases in the bottom of the ninth before a pitching change.

Arkansas and Ole Miss will face off one more time on Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN2 for the final spot in the championship series which will start on Saturday.

Las Vegas oddsmakers cannot pick between the two at this time, releasing both Arkansas and Ole Miss at +240 to win the national championship ahead of their showdown for a chance to play Oklahoma. Because the Sooners have already advanced to the final round, they are currently favorites at +100.