The Racers run out to a quick start when Jonathan Hogart takes one in the ribs to start the game, steals second, and scores on Dominic Decker's two-out single. But staff ace Jacob Morrison can't hold the lead for long at all - he walks Derek Curiel to lead off the home half of the 1st and, one out later, Stephen Milan drills a two-run homer into the stands to jump LSU to the front. The rest of the inning is like a replay as Jake Brown walks and Luis Hernandez goes deep for two more runs and a 4-1 LSU lead before the first frame finally ends. With a man on first and two away in the LSU second, Milan hits a popup down the rightfield line and between the fielders; second baseman Decker lunges for the ball, but it kicks off his glove and rolls away into foul territory and Kevin Stanfield scores all the way from first for LSU's fifth run. Whatever doubt was left is erased in the 4th - Stanfield hits a long one-out drive to the track in center which Hogart misplays, and Stanfield again circles the bases on the miscue; two walks and a single later, Jared Jones drives in two more with a base hit and the Tigers have staked themselves to a comfortable 8-1 lead. Murray State get homers from Carson Garner and Charlie Jury in the middle innings to make the score respectable, but Eyanson pitches eight strong innings and Chase Shores sends Cinderella packing with a scoreless 9th inning. LSU 9-7-1, Murray State 4-6-2. [scoresheet]
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| Stephen Milam hits a 1st-inning homer that puts LSU in front for good |
The first-round winners in the bottom half of the bracket got here in very different ways - Arkansas in a nail-biter over LSU that wasn't decided until the late innings, and UCLA in a romp over Murray State that was more or less over before it began. The Hogs get off the mark first this evening when Stump struggles to keep the ball in the strike zone - one-out walks to Kuhio Aloy and Brent Iredale, and a wild pitch, set the stage for Justin Thomas Jr.'s two-run single to right. Stump again fights with his feel for the zone in the 4th, walking Iredale and Reese Robinett to start the inning, and then giving an intentional pass to Charlie Davalan (4-for-8 thus far in the CWS) to load the bases after a sacrifice. Wehiwa Aloy lofts a fly ball to center that scores Iredale. but Stump escapes the bases-loaded situation that follows after hitting Logan Maxwell. Meanwhile, UCLA can't seem to find any purchase against the hard-throwing junior Wood, who allows just four baserunners over the first five innings, on three walks and a HBP, while fanning seven. And Stump has recovered from his early wobbles to retire nine of ten into the 7th inning. With two outs in that frame, though, Cam Kozeal (2-for-4) reaches him for a single and then Kuhio Aloy drives a stake into the Bruins' hearts with a long fly into the stands for two runs and a 5-0 Arkansas lead. At this point, Wood takes center stage as the story of the game - he retires UCLA in order in the 7th, and again in the 8th (whiffing a pair), and comes back out for the bottom of the 9th with a 6-run cushion (Maxwell hit a solo shot for ARK in the top of the 9th) and a chance at immortality. Mulivai Levu grounded to short, but Roman Martin coaxed a base on balls. Wood then whiffed A.J. Salgado for his tenth K and the crowd came to its feet - expectantly, hopefully, nervously. Fatigue started to show as Wood issued another free pass, to Payton Brennan, but the 21-year-old found enough in the tank to fling a third strike past Blake Balsz for the final out of the game and the third no-hitter in the 75-year history of the College World Series. [I completely understand that the level of coincidence here, with Wood having pitched a no-no in the actual CWS, is so staggering as to not be believable; nevertheless, it happened. - Ed.] Arkansas 6-8-1, UCLA 0-0-0. [scoresheet]
| Gage Wood celebrates the third no-hitter in CWS history |
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