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Men's College World Series: Arkansas' Gage Wood throws no-hitter to eliminate Murray State
Day 4 of the Men's College World Series kicked off with a David-and-Goliath matchup as No. 3 Arkansas defeated unseeded Murray State with some history by Razorbacks right-hander Gage Wood.
UCLA and LSU met in a presumably more even clash in the second half of Monday's doubleheader. The two teams provided plenty of thunder in the first inning before weather delayed that game in the fourth inning and will be resumed on Tuesday.
Arkansas 3, Murray State 0
Although the Razorbacks' bats were relatively quiet, nine nearly perfect innings from junior starting pitcher Gage Wood on Monday secured the 3-0 Arkansas win.
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Wood was electric, holding off Murray State with just the third no-hitter in MCWS history and the first since 1960. He notched a career-high 19 strikeouts on 119 pitches, completing a game for the first time in his college career.
Wood put up seven perfect innings before he hit a batter with a pitch in the eighth. But he stayed strong, notching five more strikeouts to secure the historic no-hitter.
Both offenses were quiet at first, with Wood and Racers starting pitcher Isaac Silva both putting up strong performances. But in the third inning, Arkansas finally got on the board. First baseman Reese Robinett kicked things off with a double into the outfield gap and reached home after a pair of singles.
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For most of the game, Silva held off one of the best offenses in the country. He notched seven strikeouts in six innings, allowing six hits and just the one run. But after Silva exited in the seventh inning, replaced by Graham Kelham, the Razorbacks got things going again. Shortstop Wehiwa Aloy hit a key double to knock in one RBI, and then outfielder Logan Maxwell brought in another run off a Murray State error.
After the Racers closed out the final two innings without conceding any more runs, it came down to three more outs for Wood to make history.
In the first at-bat of the ninth, pinch hitter Nico Bermeo was hit by another pitch from Wood — but the umpires deemed Bermeo had moved into the pitch and was out. Wood then dug in to record two more strikeouts to finish the game.
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"I shouldn't've hit that guy," Wood told ESPN on the postgame broadcast, referring to the hit-by-pitch in the eighth that sullied his bid for a perfect game.
Murray State put up a very good fight, but Wood's heroics brought the Racers' run in the MCWS to an end. Next up, the Razorbacks will face the loser of LSU vs. UCLA, which will be played Tuesday night.
LSU 5, UCLA 3 [suspended]
The Bruins knocked LSU starting pitcher Anthony Eyanson back right away, putting the first five batters in their lineup on base. A Roman Martin double drove in Roch Cholowsky for the game's first run. That was followed by a run-scoring infield single from AJ Salgado and an RBI groundout by Payton Brennan.
However, the Tigers answered back decisively in the bottom of the first against UCLA starter Landon Stump. Ethan Frey, Steven Milam and Jake Brown hit consecutive one-out singles, resulting in one run scored. Jared Jones then cleared the bases over the right-center field fence for a three-run homer and a 4-3 lead.
The Tigers added another run in the third after Stump walked Frey and Milam to begin the inning. He recovered to strike out Brown and Jones, giving UCLA a chance to keep those runners stranded, But Luis Hernandez followed up with an RBI single to make the score 5-3.
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The two teams took the field for the fourth inning before umpires suspended the game due to rain. After a nearly three-hour weather delay, the decision was made to delay the game until Tuesday at 11 a.m. ET. The game will be played before Oregon State and Louisville with the loser to face Arkansas in the evening.
Though LSU fans have to wait another six innings to see if their team will advance in the MCWS, the rain delay allowed Tigers diehards an opportunity to leave the competition even further behind in the Rocco's Jello Shot Challenge.
Earlier in the day, LSU alums Paul Skenes and Livvy Dunne updated the board to the delight of Tigers fans packed into Rocco's Pizza and Cantina.
Do any of the other seven fan bases competing have a chance to catch LSU's tally of 17,746 as of Monday night? None of the other schools have even reached 10,000 Jell-O shots. Underdog Murray State has maintained its respectable showing at 7,293.
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The record of 68,888, set by LSU in 2023 is still within reach. More weather delays could help, though none of the fans at Charles Schwab Field, viewers on ESPN, nor the players and coaches on either of the affected teams would likely care for that.
What will that board look like on Tuesday after three games are played?
