Smith, Tygart get USA invites

University of Arkansas pitchers Hagen Smith and Brady Tygart have been invited to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team training camp, it was announced Monday.

Fifty-six players who aren’t eligible for this year’s Major League Draft will attend the training camp in Cary, N.C., to compete for 26 roster spots on the Collegiate National Team.

After training camp, the team will represent the United States in 10 games against Chinese Taipei and Japan on June 30-July 12. The first eight games will be played in North Carolina and the final two locations have yet to be announced.

Smith, a sophomore left-hander, earned All-America and All-SEC honors this season pitching as a starter and out of the bullpen. He had an 8-2 record and 2 saves with a 3.64 earned-run average and 102 strikeouts in 71 2/3 innings.

In SEC games, Smith was 5-1 with a 3.07 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 44 innings, and held opponents to a .201 batting average.

Tygart, a sophomore right-hander, had a 3-1 record and 3.20 ERA in 25 1/3 innings.

Tygart began the season as the Razorbacks’ closer, then after missing eight weeks because of an elbow injury, he became a starter who slowly built up his innings.

Players invited to the Collegiate National Team tryouts will play four exhibition games June 25-28.

Smith and Tygart were invited to the camp for the second consecutive year. Both experienced fatigue following a run to the College World Series last season and did not play for Team USA.

Both have also been selected to play in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League this summer — Smith for the Orleans Firebirds and Tygart for the Falmouth Commodores.

Arkansas has had 21 players on the Collegiate National Team since 1979, with second baseman Robert Moore and pitcher Jaxon Wiggins most recently on the roster in 2021.