Latest news with #DanSkirka
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
'Made himself some money': What Murray State said about Gage Wood's no-hitter for Arkansas baseball
OMAHA, Neb. — The Cinderella story of Murray State came to an end Monday afternoon. The only four seed to reach the final stage of the NCAA Tournament was eliminated by a historic pitching performance as Arkansas baseball starter Gage Wood tossed the third no-hitter in College World Series history. The Razorbacks' righty silenced an offense that was flying high. The Racers were averaging 9.3 runs per game in the postseason entering Monday, scoring double digits against Ole Miss, Georgia Tech and Duke on the road to Omaha. Advertisement But the explosive lineup was held in check by Wood. The junior righty skyrocketed up draft boards in recent weeks, and Murray State coach Dan Skirka got a first-hand look at what MLB scouts are salivating over with Wood's two-pitch dominance. "I think Gage Wood made himself some money today," Skirka said. "Holy cow. With our offense and what we've done all year to a lot of really good pitchers, I'll take the blame; I didn't prepare these guys for what we saw today because it was special." The base of Wood's lofty projections is a fastball that lives in the upper 90s, but Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn credited Wood's curveball as the no-hitter difference maker. The Murray State hitters agreed with Van Horn. Advertisement "I think today Gage got us in between — don't get me wrong, phenomenal pitcher — but the thing that he could do was he could throw 97 at the top of the zone and then run breaking balls," Murray State third baseman Carson Garner said. Equally impressive was Wood's stamina and control. The righty from Batesville threw 119 pitches with 83 for strikes. Murray State right fielder Dustin Mercer pointed out that Wood was able to throw a 98 mph fastball in the final inning, and the Arkansas starter hit all of his spots. "The strikes weren't just over the heart," Murray State leadoff hitter Jonathan Hogart said. "He was executing — we have a ball system — he was executing the corners, like it was 1 and a 7. He was living there to me." Advertisement The final line was nine innings, 19 strikeouts, zero walks and one hit by pitch that spoiled a perfect game. Unless Arkansas wins three more games and reaches the championship series, Wood couldn't have asked for a better final start in an Arkansas uniform. Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@ or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter. This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: What Murray State said about Gage Wood's no-hitter for Arkansas baseball
New York Times
19-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Getting to know Louisville
The Chanticleers and Tigers will face off for the college baseball national title. Follow all our coverage from Omaha Imagn Images Imagn Images A look at the Louisville Cardinals entering the College World Series: Coach: Dan McDonnell Dan McDonnell Record: 40-22 Players to know: Eddie King Jr., .362 average, 17 HR, 60 RBIs Lucas Moore, .353 average, 5 HR, 48 RBIs, 51 SB Jake Munroe, .345 average, 12 HR, 58 RBIs Zion Rose, .315 average, 12 HR, 63 RBIs, 30 SB Alex Alicea, .310 average, 30 SB Patrick Forbes, 4-2, 4.36 ERA, 107 Ks Jake Schweitzer, 4-2, 2.15 ERA Wyatt Danilowicz, 0-1, 2.25 ERA Imagn Images How the Murray State Racers earned the program's first appearance in the College World Series: Regional Defeated Ole Miss 9-6 Defeated Georgia Tech 13-11 Lost to Ole Miss 19-8 Defeated Ole Miss 12-11 Super Regional Lost to Duke 7-4 Defeated Duke 19-9 Defeated Duke 5-4 A look at the Murray State Racers entering the College World Series: Coach: Dan Skirka Dan Skirka Record: 44-15 Players to know: Dom Decker, .361 average, 48 RBIs Dustin Mercer, .356 average, 39 RBIs Luke Mistone, .340 average, 4 HR, 53 RBIs Jonathan Hogart, .339 average, 22 HR, 56 RBIs Will Vierling, .316 average, 10 HR, 52 RBIs Carson Garner, .281 average, 17 HR, 59 RBIs Dan Tauken, .257 average, 11 HR, 76 RBIs Nic Schutte, 8-4, 4.85 ERA, 94 Ks Isaac Silva, 9-2, 5.09 ERA Graham Kelham, 4-1, 4.40 ERA, 9 S Imagn Images A look at the Arizona Wildcats entering the College World Series: Coach: Chip Hale Chip Hale Record: 44-19 Players to know: Mason White, .332 average, 19 HR, 72 RBIs Aaron Walton, .320 average, 14 HR, 49 RBIs, 18 SB Adonys Guzman, .318 average, 8 HR, 42 RBIs Tommy Splaine, .290 average, 5 HR, 25 RBIs Garen Caulfield, .262, 8 HR, 43 RBIs Smith Bailey, 3-3, 4.01 ERA, 76 K Owen Kramkowski, 9-6, 5.48 ERA, 83 K Imagn Images How the LSU Tigers earned the program's 20th appearance in the College World Series: Regional Defeated Little Rock 7-0 Defeated Dallas Baptist 6-0 Lost to Little Rock 10-4 Defeated Little Rock 10-6 Super Regional Defeated West Virginia 16-9 Defeated West Virginia 12-5 Imagn Images A look at the Oregon State Beavers entering the College World Series: Coach: Mitch Canham Mitch Canham Record: 47-14-1 Players to know: Aiva Arquette, .354 average, 18 HR, 65 RBIs Gavin Turley, .346 average, 19 HR, 66 RBIs Wilson Weber, .333 average, 12 HR, 57 RBIs Canon Reeder, .303 average, 8 HR, 35 RBIs Trent Caraway, .270 average, 12 HR, 47 RBIs Ethan Kleinschmit, 8-4, 3.54 ERA, 106 Ks Dax Whitney, 6-3, 3.66 ERA, 111 Ks Wyatt Queen, 3-1, 3.35 ERA Imagn Images How the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers earned the program's second appearance in the College World Series: Regional Defeated Fairfield 10-2 Defeated East Carolina 18-7 Defeated East Carolina 1-0 Super Regional Defeated Auburn 7-6 Defeated Auburn 4-1 Imagn Images A look at the UCLA Bruins entering the College World Series: Coach: John Savage John Savage Record: 47-16 Players to know: Roch Cholowsky, .367 average, 23 HR, 73 RBIs Roman Martin, .320 average, 9 HR, 58 RBIs Mulivai Levu, .319 average, 12 HR, 85 RBIs Dean West, .315, 4 HR, 40 RBIs, 12 SB AJ Salgado, .313 average, 12 HR, 52 RBIs, 13 SB Michael Barnett, 12-1, 4.09 ERA Landon Stump, 6-1, 4.54 ERA Ian May, 7-3, 5.00 ERA Imagn Images How the Arkansas Razorbacks earned the program's 12th appearance in the College World Series: Regional Defeated North Dakota State 6-2 Defeated Creighton 12-1 Defeated Creighton 8-3 Super Regional Defeated Tennessee 4-3 Defeated Tennessee 11-4 Here are the baseball programs that have won the most national championships: USC: 12 12 LSU: Seven Seven Texas: Six Six Arizona: Five Five Four: Arizona, Cal State Fullerton, Miami (Fla.) Arizona, Cal State Fullerton, Miami (Fla.) Three: Minnesota, Oregon State Minnesota, Oregon State Two: Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Stanford, Oklahoma, Michigan, California The eight teams that have earned their trips to Omaha will represent seven conferences. Duke and Murray State will play tonight for the final spot: ACC: Louisville Louisville Big Ten: UCLA UCLA Big 12: Arizona Arizona Missouri Valley: Murray State Murray State SEC: Arkansas, LSU Arkansas, LSU Sun Belt: Coastal Carolina Coastal Carolina Independent: Oregon State Imagn Images The pairings are set for the College World Series' first two days with tonight's game completing the field. The first game will start at 2 p.m. ET on Friday, pitting Coastal Carolina vs. Arizona. The second game on Friday will be Oregon State vs. Louisville at 7 p.m. ET. On Saturday, UCLA will face Murray State at 2 p.m. ET, and the first round will be completed by LSU vs. Arkansas at 7 p.m. ET. The double-elimination tournament will culminate in a three-game championship series June 21-23. Imagn Images The remaining eight teams from the NCAA baseball tournament that are in the College World Series: Arizona Arkansas Coastal Carolina LSU Louisville Murray State Oregon State UCLA Imagn Images Here are the first-round games for the College World Series. All times are ET. ESPN will broadcast games: Today: Coastal Carolina vs. Arizona, 2 p.m. Oregon State vs. Louisville, 7 p.m. Saturday: UCLA vs. Murray State, 2 p.m. Arkansas vs. LSU, 7 p.m. A look at the College World Series history for the eight teams in Omaha: LSU is making its 20th appearance in the College World Series. It won the national title in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009 and 2023. Arizona is making its 19th appearance. It won the title in 1976, 1980, 1986 and 2012. Arkansas is making its 12th appearance. Oregon State is making its eighth appearance. It won the national title in 2006, 2007 and 2018. UCLA is making its sixth appearance. It won the national title in 2013. Louisville is making its sixth appearance. Coastal Carolina is making its second appearance. It won the title in its first trip in 2016. Murray State is making its first appearance. There's no better place to follow all your favorite teams, leagues and players than on The Athletic as we focus here on the final eight teams in the country chasing a college baseball national title. We've got you covered on all things NBA with the NBA Finals and NHL with the Stanley Cup Final, while the MLB and NFL offseason roll along with much, much more. You can subscribe to The Athletic on an exclusive offer here. The Athletic Which team will claim college baseball's national title in Omaha, Neb., at the College World Series? The season is nearing its thrilling finale, and we will have all the coverage to get you there. We'd love to hear from you. Get involved with our discussion at live@ We will take the best contributions and add them to the blog. Hello, baseball fans. Welcome to The Athletic 's live coverage of the College World Series. We have eight intriguing teams to follow this week as they chase a national title. Will an SEC program claim the championship for the sixth straight time? Or will another team break that string? It's going to be a fun and exciting week finding out those answers. We will have a double-elimination tournament that will build up to the three-game championship series to decide the national champion. Follow along with our coverage from Omaha.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
No-hit loss won't erase the lifetime memories made by Murray State during its improbable run
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The stands at Charles Schwab Field were emptying, and Murray State players wanted to savor their program's first College World Series as long as they could. Never mind the Racers had just been no-hit by Arkansas' Gage Wood in a 3-0 loss that will send them home to southwestern Kentucky on Tuesday. Advertisement Some of the players filled jars with infield dirt, a keepsake from their improbable journey to the city where every college baseball team wants to be in June. Some milled about with family and friends. 'One of my wife's favorite movies is 'A League of Their Own,' and they said there's no crying in baseball,' an emotional coach Dan Skirka said to open his postgame news conference with 9-year-old son Keegan on his knee. 'Well, throw that out the window. There's no way I'm making it through this right here.' The Racers were the first Missouri Valley Conference team to make the CWS since 2003 and only the fourth No. 4 regional seed to get to Omaha since the NCAA Tournament went to its current format in 1999. They swept conference regular-season and tournament championships, beat No. 10 national seed Mississippi of the SEC twice on its home field and Georgia Tech of the ACC once en route to a regional title. Then the Racers went to Duke of the ACC for super regionals and lost the opener before winning two straight to punch their ticket to Omaha. Advertisement Murray State overcame early jitters in its CWS opener against UCLA, falling behind 6-0, and lost 6-4. As for their game against Arkansas, the Racers just happened to run into a pitcher who threw one of the greatest games in college baseball history — a no-hitter with 19 strikeouts, a record in a nine-inning CWS game and tied for most by a Division I pitcher this season. 'We never lost faith. Haven't all year. We're not about to start now," third baseman Carson Garner said. 'About halfway through the game, I think we realized that, 'Hey, this guy's, he's dealing, he's throwing a perfect game.' ' Murray State finished 44-17 to set a program record for wins, ending the season with only its second shutout loss. Advertisement 'The wins are phenomenal. We had a lot of them,' said Jonathan Hogart, who led the Racers with 22 homers. 'You just can't match the culture we have here. I'm going to miss Coach, I'm going to miss these two (Garner and Dustin Mercer). I'm going to miss every one of these guys. Strap on the cleats to go to war with these guys was such a blessing this year, and I'll never take it for granted.' Skirka, who finished his seventh season at the Racers' coach, put together a roster made up of eight Division I transfers, 14 from junior colleges and 14 high school recruits. Skirka said no one on his team was making money from endorsements or other name, image and likeness opportunities. 'You say at the end of the year only one team's happy,' Skirka said. 'That ain't the case this year. There's definitely more than one because these guys, the run they went on, you're not going to be able to wipe the smile off their face for a really long time. That's what I told them. They're going to share this for ages and people are going to ask them about it for ages, and that's really the cool thing.' ___ AP college sports:
Al Arabiya
16-06-2025
- Sport
- Al Arabiya
No-Hit Loss Won't Erase the Lifetime Memories Made by Murray State During Its Improbable Run
The stands at Charles Schwab Field were emptying, and Murray State players wanted to savor their program's first College World Series appearance as long as they could. Never mind the Racers had just been no-hit by Arkansas's Gage Wood in a 3–0 loss that would send them home to southwestern Kentucky on Tuesday. Some of the players filled jars with infield dirt–a keepsake from their improbable journey to the city where every college baseball team wants to be in June. Some milled about with family and friends. 'One of my wife's favorite movies is 'A League of Their Own,' and they said 'there's no crying in baseball,'' an emotional coach Dan Skirka said to open his postgame news conference, with 9-year-old son Keegan on his knee. 'Well, throw that out the window. There's no way I'm making it through this right here.' For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. The Racers were the first Missouri Valley Conference team to make the CWS since 2003 and only the fourth No. 4 regional seed to get to Omaha since the NCAA Tournament went to its current format in 1999. They swept conference regular-season and tournament championships, beat No. 10 national seed Mississippi of the SEC twice on its home field and Georgia Tech of the ACC once en route to a regional title. Then the Racers went to Duke of the ACC for super regionals and lost the opener before winning two straight to punch their ticket to Omaha. Murray State overcame early jitters in its CWS opener against UCLA, falling behind 6–0 and losing 6–4. As for their game against Arkansas, the Racers just happened to run into a pitcher who threw one of the greatest games in college baseball history–a no-hitter with nineteen strikeouts, a record in a nine-inning CWS game and tied for most by a Division I pitcher this season. 'We never lost faith. Haven't all year. We're not about to start now,' third baseman Carson Garner said. 'About halfway through the game I think we realized that, 'Hey, this guy's, he's dealing, he's throwing a perfect game.'' Murray State finished 44–17 to set a program record for wins, ending the season with only its second shutout loss. 'The wins are phenomenal. We had a lot of them,' said Jonathan Hogart, who led the Racers with twenty-two homers. 'You just can't match the culture we have here. I'm going to miss Coach, I'm going to miss these two (Garner and Dustin Mercer). I'm going to miss every one of these guys. Strapping on the cleats to go to war with these guys was such a blessing this year, and I'll never take it for granted.' Skirka, who finished his seventh season as the Racers' coach, put together a roster made up of eight Division I transfers, fourteen from junior colleges, and fourteen high school recruits. Skirka said no one on his team was making money from endorsements or other name, image, and likeness opportunities. 'You say at the end of the year only one team's happy,' Skirka said. 'That ain't the case this year. There's definitely more than one because these guys, the run they went on, you're not going to be able to wipe the smile off their face for a really long time. That's what I told them. They're going to share this for ages, and people are going to ask them about it for ages, and that's really the cool thing.'
Associated Press
16-06-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
No-hit loss won't erase the lifetime memories made by Murray State during its improbable run
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The stands at Charles Schwab Field were emptying, and Murray State players wanted to savor their program's first College World Series as long as they could. Never mind the Racers had just been no-hit by Arkansas' Gage Wood in a 3-0 loss that will send them home to southwestern Kentucky on Tuesday. Some of the players filled jars with infield dirt, a keepsake from their improbable journey to the city where every college baseball team wants to be in June. Some milled about with family and friends. 'One of my wife's favorite movies is 'A League of Their Own,' and they said there's no crying in baseball,' an emotional coach Dan Skirka said to open his postgame news conference with 9-year-old son Keegan on his knee. 'Well, throw that out the window. There's no way I'm making it through this right here.' The Racers were the first Missouri Valley Conference team to make the CWS since 2003 and only the fourth No. 4 regional seed to get to Omaha since the NCAA Tournament went to its current format in 1999. They swept conference regular-season and tournament championships, beat No. 10 national seed Mississippi of the SEC twice on its home field and Georgia Tech of the ACC once en route to a regional title. Then the Racers went to Duke of the ACC for super regionals and lost the opener before winning two straight to punch their ticket to Omaha. Murray State overcame early jitters in its CWS opener against UCLA, falling behind 6-0, and lost 6-4. As for their game against Arkansas, the Racers just happened to run into a pitcher who threw one of the greatest games in college baseball history — a no-hitter with 19 strikeouts, a record in a nine-inning CWS game and tied for most by a Division I pitcher this season. 'We never lost faith. Haven't all year. We're not about to start now,' third baseman Carson Garner said. 'About halfway through the game, I think we realized that, 'Hey, this guy's, he's dealing, he's throwing a perfect game.' ' Murray State finished 44-17 to set a program record for wins, ending the season with only its second shutout loss. 'The wins are phenomenal. We had a lot of them,' said Jonathan Hogart, who led the Racers with 22 homers. 'You just can't match the culture we have here. I'm going to miss Coach, I'm going to miss these two (Garner and Dustin Mercer). I'm going to miss every one of these guys. Strap on the cleats to go to war with these guys was such a blessing this year, and I'll never take it for granted.' Skirka, who finished his seventh season at the Racers' coach, put together a roster made up of eight Division I transfers, 14 from junior colleges and 14 high school recruits. Skirka said no one on his team was making money from endorsements or other name, image and likeness opportunities. 'You say at the end of the year only one team's happy,' Skirka said. 'That ain't the case this year. There's definitely more than one because these guys, the run they went on, you're not going to be able to wipe the smile off their face for a really long time. That's what I told them. They're going to share this for ages and people are going to ask them about it for ages, and that's really the cool thing.' ___ AP college sports:
