Hogs’ Knight on radar for Golden Spikes Award.

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 6 1 /3 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 five hits and had seven strikeouts.

Knight had given up 39 hits, 11 walks and 10 earned runs with 48 strikeouts in 462/3 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 1852/3 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.

Knight