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Goodfellas
06-23-2009, 06:17 PM
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- LSU short-circuited Texas' power surge Monday night.

Freshman Mikie Mahtook singled in the winning run in the top of the 11th inning after DJ LeMahieu tied the game in the ninth, and LSU survived Texas' five home runs to beat the Longhorns 7-6 in Game 1 of the College World Series finals.

"I've been fortunate to be around some kids who have played some great games through the years, and I savor all the victories, but this one was really sweet," LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. "On the biggest stage, with their backs against the wall, to come up with that kind of an effort is one for the ages."

LSU (55-16) would win its sixth national title with a victory over the Longhorns (49-15-1) on Tuesday night.

LeMahieu walked leading off the 11th against Brandon Workman (3-4), stole second with two outs and took third when catcher Cameron Rupp's throw went into center field.

Mahtook delivered after struggling his first four at-bats. He required intravenous fluids to treat cramps in the sixth inning, and he struck out three times and hit into a double play. He punched a single into right field in the 10th before facing Workman in the 11th.

"My first three at-bats, it wasn't like I just struck out. It was three terrible at-bats. I was chasing balls in the dirt," Mahtook said. "I stayed back on a change-up and bounced into a double play. When I got into the dugout, guys were telling me to make sure I keep my head straight. Jared Mitchell told me I was going to come back up again with a big at-bat, and you're going to come through for us. That helped me out a lot."

Matty Ott (4-2) struck out Brandon Loy and Tim Maitland and got Connor Rowe to ground out to finish off Texas, which had walkoff wins in two of its first three CWS games.

"It has to happen some time. We can't have all the glorious game-ending victories," said Russell Moldenhauer, who hit two of Texas' homers. "We've got to throw that aside and come back with the same feeling we had at the beginning of this game."

The Tigers, who won their 14th straight, came back from deficits of 3-1 and 6-4. LeMahieu hit the tying, two-out double in the top of the ninth off Austin Dicharry. LeMahieu and Ryan Schimpf also homered for the Tigers.

Texas, trying to become the first No. 1 national seed since Miami in 1999 to win the championship, continued its show of power. The Longhorns came to Omaha with 39 homers in 61 games, but have 11 in four games here.

Texas is better known for playing small ball: The Longhorns are only the fifth team to record more than 100 sacrifice bunts in a season.
But the wind has been blowing out at hitter-friendly Rosenblatt Stadium.

All three of Moldenhauer's homers this season have come in the CWS. He was one of three Longhorns to go deep in the fourth inning, and he broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth with his opposite-field shot to left.
Travis Tucker and Kevin Keyes also homered in the fourth, and Rowe did it in the seventh.

"How do I explain it? We're not playing at Disch-Falk. That field just swallows the ball," Moldenhauer said of Texas' home stadium. "We're at a little bit smaller ballpark, and that has helped out the offense."

Over a span of 6 1/3 innings, from their previous game against Arizona State to Monday's matchup with LSU, seven of the Longhorns' 11 hits were home runs.

Texas is the first team since LSU in 1998 to homer three times in an inning at the CWS. All five Texas homers were solo shots off LSU starter Louis Coleman.

"It was great to see the rest of the team pick up Coleman," Mainieri said. "He felt he let his team down. The balls were flying out of the ballpark. I'm not saying they were cheap. But if you got the ball up in the air today, it had a chance to go out."

In the LSU ninth, Sean Ochinko singled off Austin Wood and Derek Helenihi was walked by Taylor Jungmann. Dicharry came on and struck out Tyler Hanover before LeMahieu doubled into the left-field corner to tie it.

LSU's bullpen held the Longhorns hitless over the last five innings. Ott worked the last three, striking out three.

Texas coach Augie Garrido said his players only need to look back at last year's finals to see it's possible to come back after losing Game 1.

"Georgia wiped out Fresno State in the first game last year and was ahead in the second game," Garrido said. "Fresno came back and waltzed off with the national championship on the third day."

LSU.............. 100 002 102 01--7 11 0
Texas........... 000 302 100 00--6 9 1

• Coleman, Jones (7), Bertuccini (8), Ott (9) and Gibbs; Ruffin, Wood (6), Jungmann (9), Dicharry (9), Workman (10) and Rupp. W--Ott 4-2. L--Workman 3-4. HRs--LSU, LeMahieu (5), Schimpf (22). Texas, T.Tucker (3), Moldenhauer 2 (3), K.Keyes (8), C.Rowe (8).

Goodfellas
06-24-2009, 05:56 AM
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Freshman Taylor Jungmann limited LSU to five hits in his first complete game, and Russell Moldenhauer hit his record-tying fourth home run of the College World Series as Texas evened the best-of-three finals, 5-1 over LSU on Tuesday night.

The top-seeded Longhorns (50-15-1) forced a winner-take-all game Wednesday night for the national championship. LSU (55-17), ranked No. 1 in the major polls, lost for the first time in 15 games.

Jungmann, who threw six pitches all for balls in a short relief appearance in Game 1 Monday, struck out nine against an LSU offense that averaged 9.5 runs in its first four CWS games.

Jungmann (11-3) won his third game in Omaha -- the other two were in relief -- and he pitched the first complete game in the CWS since 2006.

LSU starter Aaron Ross (6-8) lasted only two innings in his first CWS start.

Preston Clark homered for a 2-0 lead in the second and finished with three hits and two RBIs.

Moldenhauer's surprising show of power continued. He came to Omaha with no home runs this season and became the 10th player to hit four in a CWS when he sent a high fly over the right-center field fence off Ryan Byrd in the third.

Jungmann had never pitched more than 7 2/3 innings. He gave up a triple to DJ LeMahieu leading off the third in addition to four singles.
LSU scored on shortstop Brandon Loy's fielding error in the second. The Tigers got the leadoff man on base to start four innings after that, but couldn't score.

LeMahieu tripled into the right-field corner to start the third, and Jungmann walked Blake Dean with one out. Jungmann struck out Micah Gibbs and got Mike Mahtook to ground out.

Jungmann got a big defensive play from second baseman Travis Tucker with a runner on first base in the fourth. Tucker went into the hole to backhand Derek Helenihi's grounder up the middle, underhanded the ball to Loy, who made the throw to first to complete the inning-ending double play.

In the sixth, Dean reached on an infield single and took another base when Tucker let the ball get past him as he backed up first. But Dean left second base too early on Gibbs' fly to center and, as he was standing on third, was called out when Jungmann threw back to Tucker at second.

The Longhorns scored all five runs in the first three innings and mustered only four singles the rest of the way.

LSU left fielder Leon Landry robbed Kevin Keyes of extra bases in the fifth, his body going parallel to the ground as he laid out to snag Keyes' drive into the corner.

Texas..................113 000 000--5 12 3
LSU.....................010 000 000--1 5 2

• Texas, Jungmann and Rupp; LSU, Ross, Byrd (3), Cain (3), Bradshaw (7) and Gibbs. W--Jungmann, 11-3. L--Ross, 6-8. HR--Texas, Moldenhauer (4), Clark (3).

Mudpro69
06-24-2009, 07:03 AM
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Freshman Taylor Jungmann limited LSU to five hits in his first complete game, and Russell Moldenhauer hit his record-tying fourth home run of the College World Series as Texas evened the best-of-three finals, 5-1 over LSU on Tuesday night.

The top-seeded Longhorns (50-15-1) forced a winner-take-all game Wednesday night for the national championship. LSU (55-17), ranked No. 1 in the major polls, lost for the first time in 15 games.

Jungmann, who threw six pitches all for balls in a short relief appearance in Game 1 Monday, struck out nine against an LSU offense that averaged 9.5 runs in its first four CWS games.

Jungmann (11-3) won his third game in Omaha -- the other two were in relief -- and he pitched the first complete game in the CWS since 2006.

LSU starter Aaron Ross (6-8) lasted only two innings in his first CWS start.

Preston Clark homered for a 2-0 lead in the second and finished with three hits and two RBIs.

Moldenhauer's surprising show of power continued. He came to Omaha with no home runs this season and became the 10th player to hit four in a CWS when he sent a high fly over the right-center field fence off Ryan Byrd in the third.

Jungmann had never pitched more than 7 2/3 innings. He gave up a triple to DJ LeMahieu leading off the third in addition to four singles.
LSU scored on shortstop Brandon Loy's fielding error in the second. The Tigers got the leadoff man on base to start four innings after that, but couldn't score.

LeMahieu tripled into the right-field corner to start the third, and Jungmann walked Blake Dean with one out. Jungmann struck out Micah Gibbs and got Mike Mahtook to ground out.

Jungmann got a big defensive play from second baseman Travis Tucker with a runner on first base in the fourth. Tucker went into the hole to backhand Derek Helenihi's grounder up the middle, underhanded the ball to Loy, who made the throw to first to complete the inning-ending double play.

In the sixth, Dean reached on an infield single and took another base when Tucker let the ball get past him as he backed up first. But Dean left second base too early on Gibbs' fly to center and, as he was standing on third, was called out when Jungmann threw back to Tucker at second.

The Longhorns scored all five runs in the first three innings and mustered only four singles the rest of the way.

LSU left fielder Leon Landry robbed Kevin Keyes of extra bases in the fifth, his body going parallel to the ground as he laid out to snag Keyes' drive into the corner.

Texas..................113 000 000--5 12 3
LSU.....................010 000 000--1 5 2

• Texas, Jungmann and Rupp; LSU, Ross, Byrd (3), Cain (3), Bradshaw (7) and Gibbs. W--Jungmann, 11-3. L--Ross, 6-8. HR--Texas, Moldenhauer (4), Clark (3).
:headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang:

Goodfellas
06-24-2009, 07:35 AM
I have never watched a college baseball game. I should tune in and check it out. They gotta kill the ball with those metal bats, right?

bringingthehuge
06-24-2009, 09:25 AM
I've watched a little of each of the last two games. They were actually pretty good.