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Elizabeth Merrill
OMAHA, Neb. — Following the superstition of 1000’s of baseball gamers earlier than them, the Arkansas Razorbacks did not dare utter the phrases “no-hitter” or “good recreation” within the dugout Monday afternoon as Gage Wooden mowed by Murray State’s lineup on the Males’s Faculty World Collection.
Catcher Ryder Helfrick had a sense one thing particular was brewing by the fourth inning, however he saved quiet. Skipper Dave Van Horn was mum, too.
“I will be the primary to say there was nothing being talked about or stated in our dugout,” Van Horn stated. “We had been simply going to let him roll.”
Everyone did their half till the top of the eighth inning, when 11-year-old batboy Gage Goodwin, whom the gamers name G-baby, slipped.
“Is Gage going out for the no-no?” requested the son of Clay Goodwin, Arkansas’ director of baseball operations.
It did not matter, although.
Wooden, a 6-foot, 205-pound right-hander struck out the final three batters, breaking a MCWS document with 19. He grew to become the first player to throw a no-hitter in the MCWS in 65 years. He truly had an ideal recreation going till the eighth inning when his breaking ball hit Dom Decker within the foot.
Wooden’s 119th and ultimate pitch was clocked at 97 mph, and he ran his fingers by the letters over his chest, emphatically saying, “Arkansas” because the Razorbacks beat Murray State 3-0 of their first elimination recreation in Omaha. To place his 19-strikeout feat in perspective, no pitcher has ever had greater than 17 strikeouts in an MLB no-hitter, in keeping with ESPN Analysis. Max Scherzer and Nolan Ryan are the one ones to succeed in 17.
Earlier this 12 months, Wooden missed seven weeks of the season due to a shoulder damage. It was the one time Helfrick had seen him down. And probably the most pitches Wooden had thrown in 2025 earlier than Monday was 91 a few weeks in the past within the Fayetteville Regional ultimate in opposition to Creighton.
Razorbacks pitching coach Matt Hobbs, who reassured Wooden throughout his rehab that he can be again to assist the workforce win ballgames, stated Monday that with the season on the road in an elimination recreation, there was “by no means a dialogue” about who was going to start out.
Hobbs did, nonetheless, try to have a dialogue with Wooden within the eighth inning about how he was doing and whether or not he might go on.
“He appeared like he was about to kill me,” Hobbs stated, laughing. “I simply walked away.”
There was no method he was taking Wooden out anyway — a minimum of not whereas he had the no-hitter going sturdy. Wooden, Hobbs stated, was driving adrenaline these ultimate two innings.
Each Hobbs and Helfrick, who known as 118 of the pitches — Hobbs known as one fastball — had an excellent feeling about Wooden on Monday. Hobbs usually has to press his catcher to provide an opinion on his pregame ideas, however Monday he was agency. All of Wooden’s pitches appeared good, Helfrick advised him.
Wooden struck out seven straight batters from the third to the fifth inning, and the Razorbacks had been on their method. Wooden stated he did not begin occupied with the no-hitter till the eighth. That did not shock his catcher.
“I do not know what is going on by that head of his,” Helfrick stated. “He is a personality. That is Gage Wooden.”
After Wooden threw his ultimate pitch and celebrated, he discovered Murray State infielder Conner Cunningham and wrapped him in a hug. Cunningham and Wooden hail from Batesville, Arkansas, a roughly 3-hour and 45-minute drive from Fayetteville, and within the offseason they play catch and work out collectively.
“He stands in on bullpens, provides me suggestions,” Wooden stated. “Once I’m residence — there’s not a lot in Batesville, if y’all do not know that. I believe there’s 10, 11 thousand individuals there. So, there isn’t any good place for me to go throw on a Trackman with these different school guys. It is me and him.
“He helps lots once I’m residence. So I wished to go inform him that I beloved him.”
Wooden advised Cunningham, a freshman, that he was proud he made it this far.
After throwing a no-hitter, Arkansas SP Gage Wooden made to tip his cap to Murray State’s Conner Cunningham 🤝 pic.twitter.com/AT5sHHhwZf
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 16, 2025
Wooden is anticipated to be a excessive choose in subsequent month’s MLB draft, however on Monday, he cherished his time on the mound and the chance to compete with the Razorbacks once more Tuesday in opposition to the loser of the UCLA-LSU recreation in one more elimination recreation. Hobbs stated the workforce does not choose captains however that Wooden is taken into account one. He stated the pitcher might’ve checked out after his damage earlier within the season and as an alternative centered on the draft.
On the most important stage of his profession, Wooden delivered one emphatic message: He isn’t going wherever but.
“Clearly in that second to try this,” Hobbs stated, “I do not suppose we’re ever going to see something like that once more. That is by far the best efficiency I’ve ever seen. You’re taking into scope that it is an elimination recreation and it is a child who’s been by lots this season, whether or not it is damage or simply getting back from that and to try this on this stage, what an amazing efficiency.”