June 24, 2009

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OMAHA, Neb. - The LSU Tigers scored five runs in the sixth inning to break open a tie game and roll to an 11-4 victory over Texas in Game 3 of the CWS Championship Finals and claim the NCAA Division I Championship.

It's the sixth national championship for LSU and the first under head coach Paul Mainieri. LSU ties Texas for the second-most national championships for any school, behind only Southern California's 12 titles. It's also the first national championship for the Tigers since 2000.

After a two-out home run by Texas's Kevin Keyes in the bottom of the fifth inning tied the game at 4-4, LSU took over the game in the top of the sixth. After a leadoff walk by CWS Most Outstanding Player Jared Mitchell, Mikie Mahtook doubled to right center, driving in Mitchell and giving the Tigers a 5-4 lead. An error and sacrifice fly scored Mahtook. A walk and two hit batsman scored another LSU run to make the score 7-4, and Sean Ochinko's single scored two more to cap the scoring in the sixth.

The Tigers (56-17) added a single run in the eighth and another in the ninth to cap the scoring.

Starter Anthony Ranaudo got the win on the mound to move to 12-3 on the season. Brandon Workman (3-5) took the loss for Texas which finished the year 50-16-1.

The Tigers got the scoring started early with three runs in the top of the first. After the first two batters were retired, Blake Dean was hit by a pitch, Ochinko hit a single to set up Mitchell's three-run home run just inside the right field foul pole. LSU added another two-out run in the second when Ryan Schimpf's single knocked in Micah Gibbs from third.

Texas took advantage of three walks in the third to score a pair of runs and followed that with Keyes' two-run homer in the fifth to tie the game before LSU's big five-run sixth.

Offensively, Ochinko went 4-for-5 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored for LSU while Gibbs and DJ LeMahieu each added two hits. The LSU bullpen closed the door on Texas late in the game, as Chad Jones and Louis Coleman combined for 3.2 innings of one-hit, scoreless relief.

For Texas, Michael Torres and Travis Tucker each had two hits.

Mitchell, whose three-run homer sparked the LSU in the first inning, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player and he was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates LeMahieu, Schimpf and Renaudo. Also on the all-tournament team were Cameron Rupp, Russell Moldenhauer and Taylor Jungmann of Texas; Dustin Ackley and Kyle Seager of North Carolina; Kole Calhoun of Arizona St., and Tyler Cannon of Virginia.

Wednesday's attendance of 19,986 ran the total CWS attendance for 2009 to a record total of 336,076 breaking the previous record of 330,099 set in 2008.