The 2025 College World Series somehow found a way to build on its own momentum to become even better, delivering history in Game Seven, high-flying offense in an action-packed Game Eight, and the first weather delay of this CWS that stretched that action all the way into Tuesday.
Arkansas entered as the favorites in this year’s CWS after earning the nation’s No. 3 overall seed following an impressive regular season in the SEC yet found itself in the losers bracket immediately after the all-too-familiar LSU Tigers and Kade Anderson shut them down Saturday night.
Murray State defied the odds, becoming Cinderella after beating No. 10 seed Ole Miss in the regionals before downing Duke to advance to Omaha, becoming the fourth No. 4 regional seed to advance to the College World Series. They had the misfortune of running into UCLA on Saturday, who jumped on the Racers from inning one, never letting up in the game.
It was David versus Goliath fighting to stay alive to avoid becoming team number two sent packing.
The game began a quiet pitcher’s duel, with just one man reaching base for either team through two innings.
Arkansas finally popped, placing runners on the corners in the top of the third inning. Charles Davalan then stepped up to the plate and singled to left-center field, scoring teammate Reese Robinett from third base to take a 1-0 lead before the inning concluded.
And it remained that way. For the next three innings, there wasn’t much of anything.
Oh, except a perfect game brewing. Arkansas starting pitcher Gage Wood, the No. 50 prospect in this year’s MLB Draft, had not allowed a hit or run through six innings and had struck out 13 batters.
Wood was eyeing history. There has never been a perfect game in College World Series history, and Wood, singlehandedly dragging his team out of the losers bracket, was trying to change that.
Gage Wood was looking more than capable of changing that. After he tossed his sixth-straight perfect inning, he officially had the longest perfect game bid in CWS history with just nine outs remaining.
Following a top half of the seventh inning where Arkansas added two insurance runs to provide more breathing room, he once again put out three in a row. Facing the minimum through seven, Wood broke the record for consecutive outs at Charles Schwab Field Omaha, set by Creighton’s Ryan Windham in 2023 when he retired 19 in a row.
Murray State looked helpless against Wood, who was still dealing and made the 3-0 margin seem ten times that.
Sometimes the only thing that can get in our way is ourselves.
On a curveball that got just away from Gage Wood, his perfect game was ended after the ball glanced off the back foot of batter Dom Decker. The miraculous performance was not all lost though, he put away the next three batters to take a no-hitter into the ninth inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, it looked like all could go off the rails when Gage Wood hit pinch hitter Nico Bermeo with a pitch in the first at-bat. While it still maintained the no-hitter, it appeared Wood may be slipping either due to the pressure of the moment or the more than 100 pitches thrown.
Coach Dave Van Horn knew that couldn’t be the case though, challenging the call on the field and getting it overturned after it was determined that Bermeo leaned into the pitch to draw the walk. Bermeo was called out for the violation, and Wood was that much closer to making history.
Wood slammed the door on the Racers to do just that – striking out the last two batters of the game, bringing his total to 19 to complete the third no-hitter in CWS history, and first since 1960.
Player of the Game: RHP Gage Wood – Complete game, no hits, one walk on only 119 pitches. Achieved the third no-hitter in College World Series history. Take a bow.
Game Eight between UCLA and LSU started off so hot that Mother Nature herself had to step in and cool the teams off.
Right away, UCLA placed two on base with one out when Roman Martin doubled down the left field line, scoring Roch Cholowsky for run number one of the first inning.
Up next was AJ Salgado with an RBI single that scored Mulivai Levu and advanced Martin to third, and the score was 2-0 Bruins.
Payton Brennan drove in UCLA’s final run of the inning when an RBI groundout to pitcher Anthony Eyanson brought home Roman Martin.
LSU, backed by Paul Skenes in attendance, responded instantly. With runners on first and third with just one out, Jake Brown singled to right field, scoring Ethan Frey from third base.
Jared Jones, again with runners on first and third, stepped up to the plate and blasted a home run to right field that was nearly robbed at the wall. His long ball just snuck over the yellow line on top of the outfield wall.
Before pitcher Landon Stump got UCLA out of the first inning two batters later, the Bruins’ lead had evaporated, and LSU was ahead 4-3.
In the third inning, the Tigers forced a pitching change after Landon Stump walked the first two batters up, and LSU threatened to stretch its lead.
Chris Grothues entered the game for UCLA to strike out the next two batters, and it looked as if he would bring the Bruins out of the inning unscathed. Luis Hernandez didn’t think so. LSU’s catcher singled up the middle, bringing around Ethan Frey to score his second run of the game and extending the advantage to 5-3 Tigers.
At the end of the inning, with the Tigers showing their teeth, the inclement weather that usually arrives around day one of the series finally rolled in and the game was sent to a weather delay.
It was almost 12 hours later when the game resumed, after it was moved to a 10 a.m. start Tuesday morning.
LSU got right back to business in the bottom of the fourth inning after holding UCLA back from home plate in the top of the frame.
Steven Milam scored Derek Curiel from second base on a single up the middle, moving Ethan Frey to third with two outs.
It was déjà vu for Jake Brown, who continued to add to the lead with another RBI single to right field, scoring Ethan Frey once again. LSU used a good night’s rest to their advantage, ending the first inning of the day – fourth of the game – ahead 7-3.
All was quiet until the Tigers added another insurance run in the bottom of the seventh when a Daniel Dickinson single scored Jared Jones, who was standing on third base with two outs. Going into the eighth, it was 8-3 LSU.
UCLA looked determined to incite a comeback that would save them from coming back to the ballpark Tuesday night to face the red-hot Razorbacks. In the eighth inning, the Bruins tacked on two runs on a pair of back-to-back RBIs from Payton Brennan and Blake Balsz that scored Mulivai Levu and Roman Martin.
Going into the bottom of the eighth inning, the game was in reach for UCLA, who was now only behind by three runs at a score of 8-5
LSU added their last run of the game in the bottom of the inning, killing some of the momentum the Bruins worked so hard to build. The score would remain 9-5 for the final, as Chase Shores put away three straight on three groundouts to second baseman Daniel Dickinson in the top of the ninth, moving LSU one game closer to its second CWS championship series in three years.
Player of the game: 1B Jared Jones – Went 2-for-4 at the plate, with four RBI and two runs scored.
Monday’s historic performance will likely overshadow the fact that Murray State achieved history of its own to reach Omaha for the first time in school history. Murray State is the first Missouri Valley Conference team to make the CWS since Missouri State in 2003, coincidentally the last year that the Racers reached the NCAA Tournament. They are the fourth No. 4 seed to advance to the CWS, joining Fresno State (2008), Stony Brook (2012) and Oral Roberts (2023). It went viral earlier this week that head coach Dan Skirka cuts the grass himself at Johnny Reagan Field, showing the large contrast between the two teams in this game and the resources available to each. Arkansas’ largest donor is the Walton family, the richest family in America that controls the world’s highest earning company, per this year’s Fortune 500 list. Yet, Murray State earned the right to play on the same field and despite being no-hit to be sent home, proved that they belonged in Omaha.
Gage Wood joined Jim Ehler (Texas, 1950) and Jim Wixson (Oklahoma State, 1960) as the only players to throw a no-hitter in Omaha, posting the first in 65 years. His 119 pitches through nine innings break down extremely efficiently. Wood faced 28 batters today, each one seeing an average of 4.25 pitches. Murray State was hardly even fouling off Wood’s pitches. His 19 strikeouts today are the most in a 9-inning game in CWS history and the second most in any game, just behind Ohio State’s Steve Arlin’s 20 strikeouts in a 15-inning shutout in 1965. Thanks to Wood’s performance, Arkansas can book two more days in Omaha. The Razorbacks will face UCLA Tuesday night.
LSU overcame adversity, coming back to Charles Schwab Field after a 12-hour break to win its second game of the 2025 College World Series and position itself one win away from the championship series. The Tigers showed that even when the No. 1 pitching prospect in the nation wasn’t dealing for them, their bats could do the heavy lifting and were thus just as dangerous. LSU will face the winner of tonight’s game between Arkansas and UCLA on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
UCLA came out with all the momentum before LSU snatched it right back in the bottom of the first, never giving it back. The Bruins bats were active but could not overcome the onslaught of runs from LSU that spanned two days, sending UCLA to the losers bracket to face Arkansas Tuesday night. That game will follow the losers bracket matchup between Louisville and Oregon State today.
