'Made himself some money': What Murray State said about Gage Wood's no-hitter for Arkansas baseball

OMAHA, Neb.

The Cinderella story of Murray State came to an end Monday afternoon.

The only four seed to reach the final stage of the NCAA Tournament was eliminated by a historic pitching performance as Arkansas baseball starter Gage Wood tossed the third no-hitter in College World Series history.

The Razorbacks' righty silenced an offense that was flying high.

The Racers were averaging 9.3 runs per game in the postseason entering Monday, scoring double digits against Ole Miss, Georgia Tech and Duke on the road to Omaha.But the explosive lineup was held in check by Wood.

The junior righty skyrocketed up draft boards in recent weeks, and Murray State coach Dan Skirka got a first-hand look at what MLB scouts are salivating over with Wood's two-pitch dominance.

"I think Gage Wood made himself some money today," Skirka said.

"Holy cow.

With our offense and what we've done all year to a lot of really good pitchers, I'll take the blame; I didn't prepare these guys for what we saw today because it was special."The base of Wood's lofty projections is a fastball that lives in the upper 90s, but Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn credited Wood's curveball as the no-hitter difference maker.

The Murray State hitters agreed with Van Horn.

"I think today Gage got us in between don't get me wrong, phenomenal pitcher but the thing that he could do was he could throw 97 at the top of the zone and then run breaking balls," Murray State third baseman Carson Garner said.Equally impressive was Wood's stamina and control.

The righty from Batesville threw 119 pitches with 83 for strikes.

Murray State right fielder Dustin Mercer pointed out that Wood was able to throw a 98 mph fastball in the final inning, and the Arkansas starter hit all of his spots.

"The strikes weren't just over the heart," Murray State leadoff hitter Jonathan Hogart said.

"He was executing we have a ball system he was executing the corners, like it was 1 and a 7.

He was living there to me."The final line was nine innings, 19 strikeouts, zero walks and one hit by pitch that spoiled a perfect game.Unless Arkansas wins three more games and reaches the championship series, Wood couldn't have asked for a better final start in an Arkansas uniform.

Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Reach him at [email protected] or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: What Murray State said about Gage Wood's no-hitter for Arkansas baseball.

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