19 K's, no hits. Draft prospect wows in College World Series gem

The College World Series hadn't seen a no-hitter in 65 years. Gage Wood just changed that.

Wood, the electric Arkansas right-hander who's ranked MLB Pipeline's No. 50 overall Draft prospect for 2025, pitched just the third no-hitter in College World Series history in a 3-0 win over Murray State on Monday.

The 21-year-old Wood took a perfect game into the eighth inning and struck out 19 batters -- a Men's College World Series record in a nine-inning game -- over 119 pitches, allowing just a hit-by-pitch. A second hit-by-pitch was overruled by challenge in the ninth inning.

The last no-hitter in the College World Series was thrown by Oklahoma State's Jim Wixson all the way back in 1960. The only other one was thrown by Texas' Jim Ehrler in 1950.

There have been a few other no-hitters in the NCAA baseball tournament -- Kumar Rocker memorably threw a 19-strikeout no-hitter for Vanderbilt in the 2019 Super Regionals -- but a no-hitter in Omaha is truly historic territory.

The previous College World Series record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game was 17, done by Ed Bane for Arizona St. against Oklahoma on June 11, 1972. The MLB record for strikeouts in a no-hitter is 17 -- done by Max Scherzer for the Nationals against the Mets on Oct. 3, 2015, and by Nolan Ryan for the Angels against the Tigers on July 15, 1973.

Thanks to Wood's brilliance, Arkansas avoided elimination and is one of six teams remaining in the MCWS. The Razorbacks will play the loser of UCLA-LSU in another elimination game Tuesday, with a trip to the semifinals on the line. The game between the Bruins and Tigers was suspended in the fourth inning Monday night because of inclement weather and will resume at 11 a.m. ET Tuesday morning.