Arkansas defeated Murray State 3-0 on Monday in an elimination game at the College World Series in Omaha, but the bigger story was Gage Wood tossed the third no-hitter in history of this event.
Wood (4-1) got the win striking out 19 hitters and only missed a perfect game by one hit batter, Dominic Decker, in the bottom of the eighth. It appeared Wood hit another batter in the bottom of the ninth, but the call was overturned and pinch hitter Nico Bermeo was called out for leaning into the pitch. Dave Van Horn was elated to get this pitching performance from the former Batesville standout.
"I don't know where to start, really," Van Horn said. "You think about how he pitched today, I mean, how Gage pitched. And I thought Ryder (Helfrick) did a great job calling the game. I don't think a lot of people realize that we let our catchers call the game. We'll give them some educated suggestions and the pitcher can shake.
"We feel they grow in development by letting them do that. And obviously our catchers have to earn that a little bit and follow practice. And Ryder's been great at it. He has a good feel back there and he kind of knows what's up.
"And Gage just executing pitch after pitch, getting ahead in the count, breaking ball low in the dirt. Not a problem because Ryder's back there and he blocks everything. And elevating his fastball in and out. Just what a great job.
"And then the few plays that we had to make behind him -- I think we had to make, like, I don't know, nine, maybe, eight; how many did you strike out, 19? So just glad we made all those plays. Just so close to the perfect game."
When Wood struck out Jonathan Hogart to end the game what went through his mind?
"We're not going home," Wood said. "We get to play tomorrow night. It was pretty cool."
Wood's 18th strikeout came against Conner Cunningham, another Batesville graduate. Wood was asked about his relationship with Cunningham and the moment he broke the College World Series record for strikeouts in a game?
"My high school coach's name was Kelly Rush," Wood said. "But Conner, he transferred to Batesville the year after I graduated. So I didn't get to play with him. But the past couple of years in the offseason, since he's went to college, he comes in and plays catch with me every day that I need to play catch. He works out with me. He stands in on bullpens, gives me feedback.
"When I'm home, there's not much in Batesville, if y'all don't know that. I think there's 10, 11,000 people there. So there's no nice place for me to go throw on a track man with these other college guys. It's me and him.
"He helps a lot when I'm home. So I wanted to go tell him that I loved him. I had seen him in the offseason and to keep working and I was proud of him for making it here for the first time, and it's my first time, too. And he's just a freshman. So, who knows where he'll end up."
Arkansas struggled to get runs as well. They stranded nine runners on the day. The first run came in the top of third when Reese Robinett doubled to start the inning. Justin Thomas Jr. singled. Charles Davalan then singled to plate Robinett and move Thomas to third. Davalan stole second and the Hogs had runners on second and third with no outs. But Isaac Silva (9-3), Murray State's starting pitcher, retired the next three hitters to limit the damage to one run.
In the top of the seventh, Thomas started the inning off with a single. Davalan then singled to center. Wehiwa Aloy then doubled to plate Thomas and move Davalan to third. Logan Maxwell then reached base and knocked in Davalan when right fielder Dustin Mercer dropped the line drive. That was all the scoring for the game, but the Wood pitched that was plenty for the Hogs. Davalan talked about the Hogs scrapping for runs.
"Silva did a great job," Davalan said. "He has a slow slot and the ball runs and sinks a lot. I think we had a good game plan going in. We got runners in scoring positions and on base early. I think we were just missing that big hit. But apparently we panned through another -- their two pitcher has really good stuff, and they did a great job of putting it on the plate and making us earn it."
Wood threw a career-high 119 pitches. Silva worked six innings for Murray State. He allowed six hits, one run, walked two and fanned seven. Graham Kelham worked the final three innings. He allowed four hits, two runs, didn't walk anyone and struck out four.
Wood also had good plans for the ball he was given after the game.
"I gave it to my dad," Wood said. "Said, happy late Father's Day."
Thomas had four hits in as many at bats. Davalan and Wehiwa Aloy each added two hits while Robinett and Helfrick added one each.
Arkansas (49-14) will be back in action Tuesday night at 6 p.m. against Monday night's UCLA-LSU loser. Tuesday night's game will be on ESPN. Van Horn had a message for the team after the game.
"Yeah, having him save our bullpen was great," Van Horn said. "If we get down today, we might have to go with a guy that's going to be starting tomorrow. And now we can sit on it tonight, make a decision tomorrow on who we're going to pitch, see who wins tonight and go from there.
"But I just tell our guys, the only thing we have is tomorrow. That's what we did at practice yesterday. We got them out early. Got up early and went out there and stretched, casually did what we needed to do, kind of moved on, talked about today, and not really worrying about the next day or the next day because we had to take care of today. So same for tonight. Relax, get ready for tomorrow."
Photos: Craven Whitlow
