LSU Wins the National Championship

The LSU Tigers outlasted Texas tonight, beating the Longhorns 11-4 to bring another national title to Baton Rouge. This is the 6th championship in the program's history, the first since 2000, and the 1st career title for coach Paul Mainieri. The Tigers (56-17) lost just once in the season's final month.

The game was actually much closer than the final score indicates. LSU got up early on a 3-run homer off the bat of CWS Most Outstanding Player Jared Mitchell, and they had that advantage for a couple of innings. That's when starter Anthony Ranaudo got very shaky in the middle of the game. He walked 4 in the 3rd inning and surrendered a 2-run home run to Texas OF Kevin Keyes in the 5th. Ranaudo had an elevated pitch count, UT starter Cole Green had already been lifted, and it looked like anybody's game.

The turning point came in the 6th. LSU OF Mikie Mahtook lined a 2-strike pitch from Brandon Workman into center for a double, driving in Mitchell. The Tigers tacked on more with an error, sac fly, 2 HBPs, and a 2-run single from Sean Oc

hinko. (All year long I was on the Ochinko bandwagon, and he definitely came through tonight; 4-for-5 with a HR and 3 RBI.)

LHP Chad Jones, the football safety/outfielder continued to emerge in a setup role. He recorded 5 outs of relief (and 2 strikeouts) with a fastball for strikes up to 92-93 mph and a pretty nice breaking ball. Fittingly, though, Mainieri put Louis Coleman on the mound for the last two innings. Coleman is probably the team MVP. He's a senior who came back to school specifically to get another chance to win a national championship, he was the SEC Pitcher of the Year, and he was extremely consistent and reliable all year long. The 6-4 righty got Texas OF Connor Rowe to wave at a slider for the final out of the game, and set off a wild celebration for the Purple and Gold and their thousands of rabid fans. It was a great end to a great CWS and a great season. Here's the box score from the game, which, unfortunately, will be the last for awhile.

College-wise, we've got the Cape Cod League and recruiting/draft signing to look forward to. Other than that, I'll just start counting down the days till the next season.

*Photo courtesy of www.espn.go.com

Catching Up With the CWS

I'm a little behind with recaps of all of the College World Series action. Here is what has happened so far:

Bracket 1

Texas- 2-0

North Carolina- 1-1

Arizona State- 1-1

Southern Miss- 0-2 (eliminated)

Texas has eked out a couple of wins. First, they toppled Southern Miss with a bases-loaded walk. Then, they overcame a 6-0 deficit against the nation's #2 ERA man to beat ASU 10-6. Cameron Rupp hit a pair of oppo homers and freshman Taylor Jungmann was tremendous in relief of starter Chance Ruffin, who was hit hard, to carry the Longhorns. UNC squandered an outstanding effort by Alex White (9 IP, 1 R, 12 K) with an extra-innings loss at the hands of ASU. They came back with a CWS record-tying 23 hits, including 5 from All-American 1B Dustin Ackley, to bounce Southern Miss. The Tar Heels have Matt Harvey, Patrick Johnson, and White lined up for a potential climb out of the loser's bracket. ASU's pitching situation is much more dicey, so they'll be a longshot from here on out. Texas has two chances to beat the winner of the ASU/UNC clash, and electric righty Brandon Workman will probably get the ball first.

Bracket 2

LSU- 2-0

Virginia- 1-1

Arkansas- 1-1

Cal State Fullerton- 0-2 (eliminated)

Cal State Fullerton, perhaps the slight favorite entering the CWS, played as poorly in two losing efforts this week as they played well in convincing runs through regionals and super regionals. RHPs Noe Ramirez and Daniel Renken were simply not themselves, and the rest of the team did not play "Titan Baseball". LSU has handled their foes with some old-style LSU Gorilla Ball and a solid start from Louis Coleman to take a commanding position in this bracket. It'll be tough for either Virginia (who knocked out CSF after losing to LSU) or Arkansas (who homered and Dallas Keuchel-ed their way to a win over Fullerton and then got trounced by LSU) to win 2 games against the Tigers with the way they are playing. The Bayou Bengals are clicking on offense, defense, and on the mound.