All-Americans Aplenty

If you happened to be watching the end of the Arkansas-Murray State game at the Men's College World Series yesterday, then you saw something incredible. 

If you weren't, well, then you missed one of the most electric moments you could ever hope to see in the world of sports. 

Arkansas' Gage Wood, pitching in an elimination game, threw a no-hitter and struck out 19 Racers in a 3-0 win. It was just the third no-hitter in MCWS history, after Jim Ehrler of Texas in 1950 and Jim Wixson of Oklahoma State in 1960.

It's not just that he threw the no-hitter, and it's not just that he did so in the elimination game. 

Wood is projected to be a pretty high pick in the coming Major League draft, a likely second-round pick and possibly a first-rounder. Despite that, he has not had a great year, making only nine starts with an ERA over five. 

And yet he was untouchable yesterday. His 19 strikeouts were a single-game record for the MCWS, and the only thing between him and a perfect game was a hit batter in the eighth, after he'd retired the first 21 Racers he'd faced. 

As for the ninth, there was a bit of controversy when Wood seemed to hit the leadoff batter, only to have the replay show that the hitter moved into the ball. In college, that becomes a strike, and in this case, it was Strike 3. 

The next two batters? They had no chance. Strikeout. Strikeout. It was just pure dominance. You couldn't help but be wildly impressed. 

Serious question, no hyperbole. Given the stakes:

Gage Wood throwing a 19-strikeout no-hitter, in a game where his team's season was on the line, has to be one of the greatest pitching performances -regardless of level - in baseball history, right?pic.twitter.com/58Dkpz5p5n

— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) June 16, 2025

The answer, Aaron, is a resounding "Yes." 

The MCWS is the last remaining college event of the 2024-25 academic year. The second-to-last was the NCAA track and field championships. 

 The women's championship went to Georgia for the first time. The men? There was a tie between Texas A&M and USC. Should there be a tiebreaker, or are you okay with co-champs in this situation? 

Maybe whoever had the most individual champs? In that case, it would have gone to Texas A&M, who had two to USC's zero. 

And remember last week, when TB mentioned that Cal discus thrower Mykolas Alekna was a lock, as he was the Olympic silver medalist a year ago in Paris and whose qualifying throw was five meters past anyone else? It turns out he also currently in the World Record holder.

How'd he do? He came in second to 2024 Jamaica Olympian Ralford Mullings of Oklahoma, who won by more than two meters. 

As for Princeton, the Tigers had themselves an All-American time in Eugene. 

Princeton sent eight athletes to compete in individual events after the East Regional qualifying. All eight of those Tigers earned either first- or second-team All-American honors. 

There were two who earned first-team (by virtue of finishing in the top eight of their event), and those two were Greg Foster in the long jump and Sam Rodman in the 800. The other six all finished between ninth and 16th, becoming second-team All-Americans.

That list is: Shea Greene (javelin), Casey Helm (discus), Joe Licata (shot put), Mena Scatchard (1500), Georgina Scott (long jump; also was an honorable mention honoree in the triple jump) and Harrison Witt (1500).

The highest finisher was Rodman, who finished in fourth place, exactly one second behind Sam Whitmarsh, one of Texas A&M's individual winners. Rodman became Princeton's highest finisher in the 800 since Ed Burrowes, who was the runner-up in the event in ... 1940. That's even longer than the gap from the last MCWS no-hitter. 

Rodman finished his career as a three-time first-team All-American, with the honor in the 2022 distance medley relay indoors and the 800 outdoors in 2022.

As for Foster, he finished seventh to become an All-American for the first time in his three trips to the championships. 

And with that, another athletic year has come to an end at Princeton. This one was special, with its record 17 Ivy League championships and countless great moments. 

Someone who writes a blog every day should probably review all of that at some point this summer, no?