OMAHA, Neb. — Following the superstition of 1000’s of baseball gamers earlier than them, the Arkansas Razorbacks did not dare utter the phrases “no hitter” or “excellent sport” within the dugout Monday afternoon as Gage Wooden mowed by means of Murray State’s lineup on the Males’s School World Collection.
Catcher Ryder Helfrick had a sense one thing particular was brewing by the fourth inning, however he stored quiet. Skipper Dave Van Horn was mum, too.
“I will be the primary to say, there was nothing being talked about or stated in our dugout,” Van Horn stated. “We had been simply going to let him roll.”
All people did their half till the top of the eighth inning, when 11-year-old batboy Gage Goodwin, whom the gamers name G-baby, slipped.
“Is Gage going out for the no-no?” requested Goodwin, the son of Clay Goodwin, Arkansas’ director of baseball operations.
It did not matter, although.
Wooden, a 6-foot, 205-pound right-hander struck out the final three batters, breaking a MCWS file with 19. He grew to become the primary participant to throw a no-hitter within the MCWS in 65 years. He really had an ideal sport going till the eighth inning when his breaking ball hit Dom Decker within the foot.
Wooden’s 119th and remaining pitch was clocked at 97 mph, and Wooden ran his fingers by means of the cursive letters over his chest, emphatically saying, “Arkansas” because the Razorbacks beat Murray State 3-0 of their first elimination sport in Omaha. To place his 19-strikeout feat in perspective, no pitcher has ever had greater than 17 strikeouts in an MLB no-hitter, based on ESPN Analysis. Max Scherzer and Nolan Ryan are the one ones to achieve 17.
Earlier this yr, Wooden missed seven weeks of the season with a shoulder damage. It was the one time Helfrick had seen him down. And essentially the most pitches Wooden had thrown earlier than Monday in 2025 was 91 a few weeks in the past within the Fayetteville Regional remaining in opposition to Creighton.
Razorbacks pitching coach Matt Hobbs, who reassured Wooden throughout his rehab that he can be again to assist the workforce win ballgames, stated Monday that with the season on the road in an elimination sport, there was “by no means a dialogue” who was going to start out.
He did, nonetheless, try and have a dialogue with Wooden within the eighth inning about how he was doing and whether or not he may go on.
“He appeared like he was about to kill me,” Hobbs stated, laughing. “I simply walked away.”
There was no approach he was taking Wooden out anyway — not less than not whereas he had the no-hitter going robust. Wooden, Hobbs stated, was driving adrenaline these remaining two innings.
Each Hobbs and Helfrick, who known as 118 of the pitches — Hobbs known as one fastball — had a very good feeling about Wooden on Monday. Hobbs usually has to press his catcher to offer an opinion on his pregame ideas, however Monday he was agency. All of Wooden’s pitches appeared good, Helfrick advised him.
Wooden struck out seven straight batters from the third to the fifth inning, and the Razorbacks had been on their approach. Wooden stated he did not begin excited about the no-hitter till the eighth. That did not shock his catcher.
“I do not know what is going on by means of that head of his,” Helfrick stated. “He is a personality. That is Gage Wooden.”
After Wooden threw his remaining pitch and celebrated, he discovered Murray State infielder Conner Cunningham and wrapped him in a hug. Cunningham and Wooden hail from Batesville, Arkansas, a roughly 3-hour and 45-minute drive from Fayetteville, and within the offseason they play catch and work out collectively.
“He stands in on bullpens, provides me suggestions,” Wooden stated. “After I’m dwelling — there’s not a lot in Batesville, if y’all do not know that. I believe there’s 10, 11,000 individuals there. So, there is not any good place for me to go throw on a observe man with these different faculty guys. It is me and him.
“He helps quite a bit once I’m dwelling. So I wished to go inform him that I cherished him.”
He advised Cunningham, a freshman, that he was proud he made it this far.
After throwing a no-hitter, Arkansas SP Gage Wooden made to tip his cap to Murray State’s Conner Cunningham 🤝 pic.twitter.com/AT5sHHhwZf
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 16, 2025
Wooden is anticipated to be a excessive decide in subsequent month’s MLB draft, however on Monday, he cherished his time on the mound, and the chance to compete with the Razorbacks once more on Tuesday in opposition to the loser of the UCLA-LSU sport in one more elimination sport. Hobbs stated that the workforce does not decide captains, however Wooden is taken into account one. He stated the pitcher may’ve checked out after his damage earlier within the season and as a substitute centered on the draft.
On the most important stage of his profession, Wooden delivered one emphatic message: He is not going wherever but.
“Clearly in that second to try this,” Hobbs stated, “I do not suppose we’re ever going to see something like that once more. That is by far the best efficiency I’ve ever seen. You are taking into scope that it is an elimination sport and it is a child who’s been by means of quite a bit this season, whether or not it is damage or simply getting back from that and to try this on this stage, what a fantastic efficiency.”
