Arkansas pitcher Gage Wood reduced Murray State to rubble with historic MCWS performance
Murray State was the story of the NCAA baseball tournament this season, becoming just the fourth No. 4 seed to ever reach the Men's College World Series.
But the Racers' historic run to Omaha came to an end Monday as they met their match against Arkansas pitcher Gage Wood, who accomplished something even more historic.
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Wood tossed a complete game no-hitter in the Razorbacks' 3-0 elimination game win, striking out 19 Murray State batters on 119 pitches en route to a performance that put him in rare MCWS air. Wood's no-hitter was just the third in MCWS history and the first since 1960. It was also the ninth all-time NCAA tournament no-hitter.
Wood very nearly became the first player in the history of the tournament to throw a perfect game, which he carried into the eighth inning until he gave up a hit-by-pitch. That was the only batter Wood didn't retire, though a hit-by-pitch to lead off the ninth was controversially overturned to a strikeout after it was determined the Murray State batter leaned into the pitch.
A projected first-round pick in the MLB draft this summer, the performance didn't exactly come out of nowhere. But coming into the game, Wood had pitched just 28.2 innings in his nine starts with a lackluster 5.02 ERA, though he did strike out 50 batters prior to Monday's game.
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Now, his performance will be immortalized as the greatest pitching outing in the modern history of the MCWS. For Murray State, a Cinderella run through the NCAA tournament comes to an end with a 0-2 showing in Omaha.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: MCWS: Arkansas pitcher Gage Wood throws no-hitter against Murray State
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