When Arkansas pitcher Gage Wood no-hit Murray State in the Razorbacks' 3–0 College World Series win Monday, astute observers were quick to note it as the third in the event's history.
However, one reporter went further—tracking down a man who saw both Wood's gem and the event's second no-hitter in 1960.
Sports journalism's unofficial find-of-the-week award goes to Eric Sorenson of D1Baseball.com, who interviewed former Nebraska-Omaha football coach and current Charles Schwab Field volunteer Sandy Buda on Monday after the game. Buda was in attendance when Oklahoma State pitcher Jim Wixson no-hit North Carolina 7–0 in 1960.
"They kept the slots empty if there were no hits and I kept asking them if I had it right that there were no hits and they kept saying, 'don’t put anything in there,'" Buda recalled of Wixson's feat, during which the then-teenager ran the old Rosenblatt Stadium's manual scoreboard. "They wouldn’t say it was a no-hitter because they didn’t want to jinx it... (when the game was completed) they finally called and told me I could put the zero in the slot."
Baseball Reference records Wixson as having pitched one professional season with the Double-A Albuquerque Dukes in 1962, before he transitioned into careers in engineering and sales. Wood, too, would appear to have a long future ahead of him—and Buda can say he was there when his legend began.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Security Guard at Gage Wood's College World Series No-Hitter Saw Last One in 1960.
