OMAHA, Neb. — Arkansas’ Gage Wooden pitched the third no-hitter in Males’s School World Collection historical past and first in 65 years Monday, hanging out a report 19 and by no means letting Murray State come near getting a success within the Razorbacks’ 3-0 victory.
Wooden joined Jim Ehrler of Texas in 1950 and Jim Wixson of Oklahoma State in 1960 as the one pitchers to throw MCWS no-hitters, and his protection was by no means actually challenged as he dominated a Racers staff that was making its first Omaha look.
The junior right-hander, who set the CWS report for strikeouts in a nine-inning recreation, was subdued within the aftermath.
“The one particular factor was I did not wish to go residence. That is it,” he stated. “We’re not going residence. We get to play tomorrow evening. However it’s fairly cool.”
Arkansas (49-14) performs one other elimination recreation Tuesday evening towards the loser of Monday evening’s recreation between LSU and UCLA.
Murray State (44-17), solely the fourth No. 4 regional seed since 1999 to succeed in Omaha, went 0-2 in its first look.
Wooden’s bid for an ideal recreation ended within the eighth when his 2-2 breaking ball hit Dom Decker in his again foot.
“Once I hit the man within the foot, I knew I screwed up,” stated Wooden, who received a foul out and consecutive strikeouts to finish the inning, then appeared skyward and gave a primal scream and did a few excessive steps as he headed to the dugout.
The Arkansas devoted behind the first-base dugout did a short “Woo Pig Sooie!” chant as Wooden warmed up for the ninth.
Wooden (4-1) hit pinch hitter Nico Bermeo at the back of his left elbow with a fastball to begin the ninth. Bermeo initially was awarded first base, however Arkansas challenged the decision, arguing Bermeo moved his elbow into the pitch. The decision was overturned and Bermeo was out.
Wooden struck out Connor Cunningham and Jonathan Hogart to complete the sport. He was mobbed by teammates, with the celebration transferring from behind the mound to the world between second and third base.
“Gage was simply executing pitch after pitch, getting forward within the rely and elevating his fastball out and in. What an amazing job,” coach Dave Van Horn stated. “The few performs we needed to make behind him — possibly 9, eight? — simply glad we made all these performs.”
Wooden went to three-ball counts simply twice, and 83 of his 119 pitches have been strikes.
The closest Murray State got here to breaking apart Wooden’s no-hitter was Carson Garner’s scorching grounder that pulled first baseman Reese Robinett to his left. Robinett snagged the ball and touched the bag for the final out of the seventh inning.
Wooden confirmed early indicators that this could possibly be a special occasion. He had wonderful command of his signature four-seam fastball, breaking ball and changeup. Of his first 20 fastballs, 19 have been strikes, and he fanned 9 of the primary 12 batters he confronted — seven in a row from the third to fifth innings.
Wooden has gone from nearer as a freshman to center reliever as a sophomore to weekend starter as a junior. He injured his proper shoulder throwing a warmup pitch in his Feb. 23 begin towards Michigan and did not return till April 18 towards Texas A&M, a complete of 54 days.
He threw a career-long six innings and struck out a career-high 13 towards Creighton in a June 1 regional recreation towards Creighton, then went 3⅓ innings in a brilliant regional win over Tennessee on June 8.
Wooden now joins Ehrler and Wixson in MCWS lore. Ehrler’s no-hitter got here in Texas’ 7-0 win over Tufts on June 19, 1950, and Wixson’s got here in a 7-0 victory over North Carolina on June 15, 1960.
Requested what he did with the sport ball, Wooden stated, “I gave it to my dad and stated pleased late Father’s Day.”
The Razorbacks broke open the sport after Murray State’s Graham Kelham relieved Isaac Silva to begin the seventh. SEC participant of the 12 months Wehiwa Aloy doubled in a run, and one other scored when proper fielder Dustin Mercer tried to make a shoestring catch on Logan Maxwell’s shallow fly and the ball received underneath his glove.
Silva stored his staff shut in his six innings, with Charles Davalan’s third-inning RBI single producing the one run towards him.
Silva allowed six hits, walked two and struck out seven. He repeatedly received out of hassle, holding the Razorbacks to 2-for-10 hitting with runners in scoring place and stranding two runners within the third, fifth and sixth.
The Related Press contributed to this report.