Has anyone ever thrown a no-hitter in the men's College World Series?

Every pitcher dreams of throwing a perfect game. It's the ultimate single-game achievement: 27 up, 27 down, not a single batter reaching base. Doing it at any point, against any team, is special. Doing it on the sport's biggest stage? It doesn't get better than that.

At the Major League level, it's only happened once, when New York Yankees righty Don Larsen pitched a perfecto against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series. At the college level, though, it's even rarer — but Arkansas righty Gage Wood tried his hardest to change that on Monday afternoon.

Wood was locked in from first pitch, throwing like Arkansas' season depended on it in a men's College World Series elimination game against Murray State. He struck out six through three, nine through four and eleven through five innings of work ... all while zeroes remained on the board.

Unfortunately, he fell just short of a perfect game, hitting a batter to lead off the top of the eighth inning. Still, it was a heck of a run at a piece of college baseball history. And while he didn't get the perfecto, he did wind up striking out 18 batters en route to a no-hitter that saved the Razorbacks' season.

Where does Wood's performance stack up in College World Series lore? Let's break it down.

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Has there ever been a perfect game in the men's College World Series?

There have been just 39 perfect games pitched at the Division I level overall, the first of which came courtesy of Maryland's Dick Reitz against Johns Hopkins in 1959. Two have come this season: Portland's Ryan Rembisz struck out a 12 batters against Seattle U, and then UNC-Wilmington freshman Cam Bagwell needed only 80 pitches to do the deed against Campbell less than a month later. (It's also worth noting that 15 of those came in seven-inning games, and one came in a five-inning contest.)

But in nearly 80 years of the men's College World Series, no pitcher has ever thrown a perfect game in Omaha. In fact, no pitcher has even gotten through six perfect innings since way back in 1999. Which makes sense, considering the level of competition in Omaha and the caliber of hitter the event has seen over the years.

Has there ever been a no-hitter in the men's College World Series?

While no one has been perfect on the mound in Omaha, there have been two no-hitters in men's College World Series history. The first came from Texas' Jim Ehrler, who did the deed against Tufts way back in 1950 to help the Horns become the first-ever repeat champs. A decade later, Oklahoma State's Jim Wixson threw a no-hitter of his own against UNC. Eight pitchers have thrown a one-hitter in the CWS, most recently Kevin Abel for Oregon State in 2018.