Arkansas' Wood outperforms legends with no-hitter

Asked in a quick post-game interview on the field to describe his emotions after throwing the third no-no in Series history, Wood genuinely spoke with a competitor's frustration:

"I shouldn't have hit the guy. That's it. It's all I've got to say."

Prior to that, he'd said, "I'm on cloud nine." He praised Murray State's freshman shortstop Conner Cunningham, his off-season workout partner from Batesville, Ark., then his high school coaches, who were also in attendance at Charles Schwab Field.

Among the onlookers thoroughly impressed by Wood's dominant performance was ESPN announcer Ben McDonald, a former star pitcher at LSU who was the No. 1 pick in the 1989 MLB draft. He pitched for the Brewers and Orioles for nine seasons in the big leagues.

"I don't know what to say," McDonald began after Wood was mobbed by his teammates on the field. "I've never seen anything like that before, not here at the College World Series.

"I mean, it was dominant from the very first pitch. We knew it was special when the first pitch came out of his hand."

I saw McDonald pitch in college. I witnessed the overpowering fastball and presence of Roger Clemens many times when he was a Texas Longhorn.

Here's a clip of Clemens striking out 20 to set a MLB record. It was just less than three years after he pitched a complete game to beat Alabama 4-3 as Texas clinched the national championship in Omaha.

I saw Jack McDowell, the fifth pick in the '87 draft when he led Stanford to the College World Series title, beat the Hogs the year before in the NCAA Regional with a four-hit shutout.

I saw many more collegiate stars, including Arkansas' Hagen Smith — the fifth pick in last year's draft — who were dominant many times in their collegiate careers.

But none were as good as Gage Wood on Monday. None.

That sentiment was echoed by the other ESPN analyst in the booth, Chris Burke, who was the 2001 SEC Player of the Year as Tennessee's All-American shortstop and the 10th player picked in that year's draft.

"It truly was epic," Burke said. "It was as dominant, as efficient, as explosive, as memorable of a moment as you will ever see from a college pitcher — and on a huge stage."

Wood is predicted to be a first-round pick in July's Major League draft, perhaps climbing into the middle part of the round or higher with his epic performance.

Among his feats Monday:
* Ninth no-hitter in NCAA Tournament history.
* 11th individual no-hitter in Arkansas history.
* First complete-game victory in the CWS in seven years.

The junior fireballer who stands 6-foot and weighs 205 pounds, broke Smith's Razorback record of 17 strikeouts. His 19 are also two more than the nine-inning record at the College World Series.

Thing is, Wood had to be nearly perfect as Arkansas only managed a 1-0 lead before plating a pair in the seventh inning to finally provide a cushion.

He expertly landed his curveball for strikes most of the game and simply blew his laser-like fastball past the hapless Racers.

It wasn't a total surprise. Wood owns the best four-seam fastball in all of college baseball, with a nation's best 43% whiff rate.

Don't dare belittle what he accomplished because it came against Murray State, just one of four No. 4 seeds to reach the College World Series since the Super Regional format was adopted in 1999.

A No. 4 seed is akin to a No. 13-16 seed in the NCAA basketball tournament.

But Murry State's offense is no slouch. The Racers had averaged more than nine runs a game in their previous eight NCAA Tournament games.

They outslugged Ole Miss and Georgia Tech — beating the Rebels twice on their own field in the four-team regional — by scoring 42 runs in four games.

They scored 28 at Duke to win the three-game Super Regional, then lost 6-4 to UCLA in their Series opener.

In College World Series play, again since '47, there had been two no-hitters: in 1950 by Texas' Jim Ehrler against Tufts and the other in 1960 by Jim Wixson of Oklahoma State against North Carolina.

While Wood was throwing 28 more pitches than he'd ever delivered in a college game, his teammates were again struggling to score runs.

Hogs center fielder and nine-hole hitter Justin Thomas Jr. enjoyed a memorable game by going 4-for-4.

Lead-off man Charles Davalan and two-hole Wehiwa Aloy each had two hits and an RBI. Reese Robinett doubled and scored the first run in the third inning on Davalan's single to left.

The Hogs play another elimination game tonight at 6 p.m. against the loser of the scheduled Monday night game between the UCLA Bruins and the LSU Tigers.

That game was delayed by heavy rain and will resume at 10 a.m. today with LSU leading 5-3 in the fourth inning.

UCLA jumped ahead 3-0 in the top of the first but LSU countered with four runs in the bottom of the first, with a three-run homer by Jared Jones the big blow. Jones struck out five times against Arkansas on Saturday.

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