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University of Arkansas baseball star Gage Wood pitched just the third no-hitter in College World Series history and first in 65 years on Monday, striking out a record 19 against Murray State to protect his team’s 3-0 victory.
Wood joined Jim Ehrler of Texas in 1950 and Jim Wixson of Oklahoma State in 1960 as the only pitchers to throw CWS no-hitters.
The junior only had two three-ball counts as 83 of his 119 pitches were strikes.
Wood had bid for a perfect game in the eighth inning, but a 2-2 breaking ball hit Dom Decker in his back foot.
“When I hit the guy in the foot, I knew I screwed up,” Wood said after the game.
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Still, Wood, a junior right-hander who set the CWS record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game, celebrated his feat after the game.
“The only special thing was I didn’t want to go home. That’s it,” he said. “We’re not going home. We get to play tomorrow night. But it’s pretty cool.”
Wood has gone from closer as a freshman to middle reliever as a sophomore to weekend starter as a junior. He injured his right shoulder throwing a warmup pitch in his Feb. 23 start against Michigan and didn’t return until April 18 against Texas A&M, a total of 54 days.
Asked what he did with the game ball, Wood said, “I gave it to my dad and said happy late Father’s Day.”
Arkansas (49-14) plays another elimination game Tuesday night against the winner of Monday night’s game between LSU and UCLA.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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