FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas right-hander Blaine Knight, who has beaten a string of the nation's top draft prospects this season, was one of 40 players named Thursday to the midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award.
Knight, a junior from Bryant, took a 6-0 record and a 1.93 ERA into Thursday's game against South Carolina.
For the second consecutive year, Knight made the watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which is given annually to the nation's top amateur player. Former Razorback Andrew Benintendi won the 38th Golden Spikes Award after the 2015 season.
Knight beat the top three preseason prospects as rated by D1Baseball.com in the past three weekends. He outdueled No. 1 prospect Brady Singer in a 6-3 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville road victory over No. 2 Florida on March 23, then followed that with a 6-4 win over No. 2 prospect Ryan Rolison and No. 4 Ole Miss on the road.
Last week he threw a gem against Auburn ace Casey Mize, the No. 3 prospect, and won 2-1. Knight allowed six hits and an earned run while throwing 6⅓ innings as the Razorbacks dealt Mize his first loss of the season.
"Blaine battled them hard," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said that evening. "I'm glad he had enough in him that he almost got us through the seventh. I'm glad he picked up a 'W' there."
The Razorbacks entered Thursday's game with a 7-1 record in Knight's starts, with the only loss coming in a 4-3 setback to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Feb. 23 in San Diego. Knight pitched six innings in that game and gave up 1 earned run on 5 hits and had 7 strikeouts.
Knight had given up 39 hits, 11 walks and 10 earned runs with 48 strikeouts in 46⅔ innings prior to Thursday's game. His 1.93 ERA ranked fourth in the SEC and 62nd nationally.
In his career, Knight has a 2.86 ERA in 185⅔ innings with 190 strikeouts. He needed 26 strikeouts to reach the top 10 in the Arkansas record book.
Knight, 21, was draft eligible after his sophomore season but made it known he intended to come back for his junior season with the Razorbacks. Van Horn predicted Knight would have been taken within the first two rounds of the MLB Draft if he had been willing to sign.
The 41st Golden Spikes Award will be presented June 28 in Los Angeles.
At a glance
GOLDEN SPIKES AWARD MIDSEASON WATCH LIST
• A look at the players named Thursday to the midseason watch list for the 41st Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the nation's top amateur baseball player, which will be awarded June 28 in Los Angeles.
NAME;CL.;POS.;SCHOOL
Luken Baker;Jr.;IF/DH;TCU
Joey Bart;Jr.;C;Georgia Tech
Seth Beer;Jr.;IF/OF;Clemson
Alec Bohm;Jr.;IF;Wichita State
Kyle Brnovich;So.;RHP;Elon
Brian Brown;Sr.;LHP;NC State
Logan Browning;Sr.;LHP/OF;Florida Southern
Kris Bubic;Jr.;LHP;Stanford
Michael Busch;So.;IF;North Carolina
Michael Byrne;Jr.;RHP;Florida
Gage Canning;Jr.;OF;Arizona State
Kody Clemens;Jr.;IF;Texas
Joe DeMers;Jr.;RHP;Washington
Colton Eastman;Jr.;RHP;Cal State Fullerton
Jeremy Eierman;Jr.;IF;Missouri State
Tyler Frank;Jr.;IF;Florida Atlantic
Logan Gilbert;Jr.;RHP;Stetson
Luke Heyer;Sr.;IF/OF;Kentucky
Chris Holba;Jr.;RHP;East Carolina
Jonathan India;Jr.;IF;Florida
Jake Irvin;Jr.;RHP;Oklahoma
Mitchell Kilkenny;Jr.;RHP;Texas A&M
Brett Kinneman;Jr.;OF;NC State
Blaine Knight;Jr.;RHP;Arkansas
Trevor Larnach;Jr.;OF;Oregon State
Davis Martin;Jr.;RHP;Texas Tech
Shane McClanahan;Jr.;LHP;South Florida
Keegan McGovern;Sr.;OF;Georgia
Drew Mendoza;So.;IF;Florida State
Casey Mize;Jr.;RHP;Auburn
Tristan Pompey;Jr.;OF;Kentucky
Griffin Roberts;Jr.;RHP;Wake Forest
Adley Rutschman;So.;C/IF;Oregon State
Nick Sandlin;Jr.;RHP;Southern Miss.
Zack Shannon;Sr.;RHP/IF;Delta State
Brady Singer;Jr.;RHP;Florida
Bren Spillane;Jr.;IF/OF;Illinois
Spencer Torkelson;Fr.;IF;Arizona State
Andrew Vaughn;So.;IF;California
Matt Wallner;So.;UT;Southern Miss.
Sports on 04/13/2018