I’ve been detached enough from reality of late to think that something surreal might be happening even when there’s scant chance it would or should. I fully expected the story of last night to be Shohei Ohtani’s debut as a Los Angeles Dodger pitcher and his first appearance on the mound in a regular season game in 22 months. Somehow, I thought Ohtani would be mowing down San Diego Padres like blades of grass–maybe even get a win in the process.
Silly moi. Ohtani pitched a pedestrian inning–though he did 100 MPH on three of his 28 pitches. He survived five batters, neither struck out nor walked any of them and left down 1-0, which projects to a 9.00 ERA. Encouraging, but hardly newsworthy aside from the name itself. It was in effect his spring training debut, and at least he matched the two hits he allowed with two of his own during the balance of the game as DH in helping LA to a crucial 6-3 win in the first of six showdowns they will have with San Diego this month.
Besides, even if he somehow lived up to my unrealistic expectations he still would have paled to the performance I happened to catch on ESPN earlier in the day. CBS SPORTS’ Carter Bahns delivered this understated writeup to his followers’ inboxes:
Arkansas pitcher Gage Wood threw the third no-hitter in College World Series history in Monday’s 3-0 elimination game victory over Murray State. Wood delivered the best outing of his Razorbacks career and broke the nine-inning CWS record with 19 strikeouts, outdoing the mark LSU’s Ty Floyd posted in Game 1 of the 2023 CWS finals. The 19 punchouts also broke the Arkansas program record.
Wood’s no-no was the first since Oklahoma State’s Jim Wixson stymied North Carolina in the 1960 tournament. Texas’ Jim Ehrler is the only other pitcher to leave an opponent hitless as he became the first to do so in 1950 against Tufts.
Wood, the No. 20 MLB Draft prospect per CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson, carried a perfect game into the eighth inning. He would have been the first pitcher in CWS history to face the minimum had he kept the perfecto alive, but he hit the first batter he faced in the eighth to put a Murray State baserunner aboard for the first and only time.
“I shouldn’t have hit the guy,” Wood said on the ESPN broadcast. “That’s it. That’s all I got to say.”
He didn’t need to say much with his mouth. His arm did the talking, and it was LOUD. And he did with the highest of relative stakes on his shoulders–it was a loser-goes-home game involving teams that already had one loss apiece in the double-elimination scrum that defines the CWS. And despite having the same first name as my alcoholic salesman great-uncle, Murray State was arguably this year’s Cinderella, having upset Duke on the own field to secure the final berth in Omaha just a week earlier.
I don’t care what level of competition you’re looking at–this was a masterpiece–more Grant Wood than Gage Wood. The all-time record for strikeouts in an MLB no-hitter is just 17, jointly held by Max Scherzer and Nolan Ryan. Between them, they’ve got nine no-hitters and more than 9000 strikeouts–not to mention 578 wins. Wood’s already in pretty elite territory.
Yes, I know college success doesn’t necessarily translate to the pros. Neither of the two previous Jims who authored CWS no-nos pitched an inning at the major league level. Ehrler bounced around the Boston Red Sox’ farm system for four undistinguished years, finishing at 13-12 with a 3.22 ERA and 162 KS (based on availabled data). Wixson had but one minor league season, languishing at the AA level for the Albuquerque affiliate of the then-Kansas City A’s, somehow winding up 4-3 despite a 7.06 ERA.
We’ll cross the bridge soon enough. For now, Gage Wood has a team still alive in Omaha, and perhaps a chance to cash in in ways that neither Ehrler or Wixson could ever have imagined.
Incidentally, if Anderson’s draft board goes chalk that would make Wood a member of the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization. An organization unafraid to fast-track young talent. Just ask Jackson Chourio or, better yet, pitcher Jason Misiorowski. He made his MLB debut Thursday night and threw five no-hit innings in his debut before exiting with cramps.
Just planting some seeds for why you should be as up for Wood as I am. So to speak.
Until next time….