OMAHA, Neb. – With 119 pitches, Arkansas’s Gage Wood etched his name into college baseball history on Monday afternoon in Omaha.
Wood used a fastball that was still touching 98 mph in the late innings to dominate the Murray State Racers, striking out 19 batters on the way to throwing just the third no-hitter in College World Series history as his Razorbacks topped Murray State 3-0 in an elimination game at Charles Schwab Field. It was the first no-hitter at the College World Series since Jim Wixson of Oklahoma State no-hit North Carolina in 1960. Jim Ehrler of Texas threw the only other against Tufts in 1950.
Going into the game, Wood said there wasn’t anything different about his preparation, and that there was only one thought in his mind as he warmed up with catcher Ryder Helfrick.
“The only special thing was I didn’t want to go home,” Wood said. He won’t be, and the Razorbacks move on to face the loser of Monday night’s game between LSU and UCLA Tuesday at 7 p.m. EDT.
In the third, Wood struck out the side on 14 pitches, getting Dan Tauken swinging, Charlie Jury looking, and Conner Cunningham swinging. He struck out the side again an inning later, getting leadoff hitter Jonathan Hogart swinging, Dustin Mercer swinging, and Carson Garner to strike out looking. Wood started the next inning by getting Dominic Decker looking for his seventh consecutive strikeout.
Wood dazzled with the fastball and effectively mixed in curveballs and cutters, painting the corners and not giving the Racers much to hit, and when they did make contact, it was seldom dangerous.
“The thing that he can do is he can throw 97 at the top of the zone and then run, break multiple sliders off that. He can do that, he was attacking the strike zone all day,” said Murray State third baseman Carson Garner.
With the Murray State hitters perplexed, Arkansas grabbed a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Charles Davalan that scored Reese Robinett in the top of the third, and then rode Wood’s hot arm the rest of the way.
He was “flipping the curveball in there whenever he needed to, and his fastball, he had a little crossfire with the ride at the top. It looked like it was down the middle, and it looked like it just kept rising away from you,” said Murray State center fielder Jonathan Hogart. “The dude was electric tonight, I mean, 19 strikeouts, and that’s coming from a team that doesn’t really do that a lot.”
Wood didn’t even get to a three-ball count until the sixth, when he threw three consecutive balls to Murray State’s No. 9 hitter, Conner Cunningham, only to come back with three consecutive strikes, retiring him when Cunningham whiffed on a 96 mph fastball up in the zone.
With runners on first and second, Wehiwa Aloy drove a double down the line into the left field corner, scoring Justin Thomas Jr. for a 2-0 Razorbacks lead. Logan Maxwell then lifted a fly ball to shallow right field, which Murray State right fielder Dustin Mercer reach for and caught, but the ball fell loose when his glove scraped the turf, allowing Maxwell to reach and Charles Davalan to score to give the Razorbacks a two-run cushion.
Murray State got a great start from senior Isaac Silva, who allowed one run on six hits over six innings, walking two and striking out seven.
“Silva and [reliever Graham] Kelham, they were as good as they’ve been for us all year. They’re the reason we got here and they pitched great,” said Murray State head coach Dan Skirka. “I feel terrible that they didn’t get a win.”
For head coach Dave Van Horn, there was never a thought of having anyone else warm up, much less of taking Wood out of the game.
“He was landing his breaking ball just as much as his fastball, really. And they couldn’t figure it out and makes his fastball look harder than it is,” Van Horn said. “And I mean, really, just like everybody here, you just use your eyes, you see what’s going on, the game will tell you what to do. We didn’t need to take him out.”
The first blemish for Wood came on his 96th pitch of the game, which hit Dominic Decker on his back foot as he led off the eighth for the Racers. His 100th pitch, which Will Vierling swung on and missed for strike two in the eighth on his way to being Wood’s 15th strikeout victim, was thrown at 97 mph. When he fanned Dan Tauken for his 16th strikeout of the game, he pounded his chest and screamed in an explosion of emotion as he walked off the mound.
“Yeah, when I hit the guy on the foot I knew I screwed it up. I’m not going to do it,” Wood said in his ‘aw shucks’ drawl when asked when he knew he had a perfect game going, and if that added any extra pressure in the late innings.
Nico Bermeo came on to pinch hit for Charlie Jury to lead off the ninth and took a 1-2 pitch off the left elbow, but a video review overturned the call and the pitch was ruled strike three, sending Bermeo back to the dugout.
Wood closed the game out with five consecutive strikeouts, retiring Conner Cunningham and Jonathan Hogart to end the game and set a College World Series record for strikeouts in a game.
After hugging his teammates, Wood went over to the Murray State dugout, hugging Cunningham. The two of them both hail from the small town of Batesville, Ark., and frequently work out together when they’re home.
“I wanted to go tell him how I loved him and I’d see him in the offseason, and to keep working and I was proud of him for making it here for the first time,” Wood said. “And it’s my first time, too, and he’s just a freshman, so who knows where he’ll end up.”
With the game over, Wood found his father and handed over the game ball, wishing him a happy belated Father’s Day.
Asked if he had any words for the fans back in Arkansas, he said just four words.
“We’re not done yet.”
Photo: The Arkansas Razorbacks mob starting pitcher Gage Wood, who threw the third no-hitter in Men’s College World Series history in a 3-0 win over the Murray State Racers on June 16, 2025. (Photo via @RazorbacksBSB on X)
