Looks like LSU is obviously the team to beat in Bracket 1 with tonight’s pounding of Arkansas. In the elimination game, UVa wins its first ever College World Series game and sends the Titans back to SoCal in an 0-and-2 funk.

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GAME FIVE.
Conditions At Gametime:
74 degrees, partly cloudy, 73% humidity, winds from the South at 13mph.

Andrew Carraway picked up win No. 9 today.

Fullerton- 021 000 003 – 5 13 0
Virginia – 040 012 00x – 7 9 1

WP- Andrew Carraway (9-1)
LP- Daniel Renken (11-3)
Sv- None

Top Hitters
CSUF:
Gary Brown, 3-for-5, RBI
Jared Clark, 3-for-4, RBI
Christian Colon, 1-for-4, HR, RBI
Dustin Garneau, 1-for-4, HR, 2RBI

UVa:
Keith Werman, 2-for-4, 2B, 2RBI
Danny Hultzen, 1-for-2, 2RBI

In A Nutshell:
Last i checked there were no other Division I teams in Orange County for Virginia to play. But if Orange Coast College wants to step up in competition, I’m pretty sure the Wahoos would beat them too, because it looks like UVa has the O.C.’s number after today’s win over Fullerton and their previous two wins over then-No. 1 UC Irvine. The five best pitchers in the Cavs arsenal held a hot hitting Titan team to just five runs. And yes, I say “held” in quotes, because five runs and 13 hits isn’t a complete clampdown. But when it comes to an offense as potent as Fullerton is, it certainly counts as a great performance.

UVa got four runs in the second inning to pull ahead for good, including a two-run single from Danny Hultzen that put the Hoos up for good. But the story of the game once again was 9-hole hitter Keith Werman, who knocked in a pair of runs, including two shots to center field, one of which was a double hit over the pulled-in outfielders.

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Key Moment:
In the 3rd inning Fullerton had men at first and third and no outs, only to see that situation dissolve with a pair of infield pop-ups and an uncharacteristic runner getting picked off between 1st and 2nd to end the threat. As it turned out, the Titan coaching staff ordered the double steal in order to score the run from third to tie the game. But the execution was botched and it just turned out to be a bungled out.

Josh Fellhauer is caught in a failed double-steal attempt.

The play took the wind out of Fullerton’s sails, until the Titans mounted a small rally in the top of the 9th.

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Key Stat:
4- The number of earned runs that Daniel Renken allowed in the 2nd inning, the most he’s given up in a single frame all this season.

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QUOTES.
Fullerton coach Dave Serrano
Opening Statement:
it was unfortunate for anyone who saw us play the last two games – and I promise I’m not taking anything away from Virginia who is a very good team – we just didn’t play very good baseball. I’m the leader of this program and I’m just as confused and disappointed as anybody. We weren’t in character and will have to go back to the drawing board to figure out what we can do to get our guys to stay in character and be themselves because this definitely wasn’t the same team that we saw the last five or six weeks of the season.

On the offense today:
Well we ended up with 13 hits and five runs. For our offense, that’s not a very productive day. We got a lot of hits but we weren’t stringing them together at the right time. That was a big momentum swing right there. We had the table set the way we wanted to and didn’t get the production we wanted to at that time.

On the 1st and 3rd situation in the 3rd inning.
We had some tendencies on Virginia that we didn’t exploit. On the delayed steal, we had known that the catcher was going to throw through and Gary (Brown) was supposed to break on the arm going forward and he didn’t, so he got a late jump. They were able to tag Josh out before Gary was able to cross the plate.

On having experience in the CWS.
We’ll be back here. There’s something about when a team has some success and comes back. That’s where LSU and North Carolina have an advantage in this tournament because they’ve been here before. We expect to be back.

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Daniel Renken on the pitching troubles here in Omaha:
I think we pressed ourselves a little too hard during both games. We pushed too hard and didn’t play like we were capable. The pitching staff wasn’t itself today. I was falling behind in the count and letting the hitters get comfortable in the box. As the leader of this pitching staff, it was inexcusable to fall behind. Virginia is a good team but I also made them look a lot better than I should’ve.

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Virginia coach Brian O’Connor.
Opening Statement:
I’m very proud of our club. I spoke about it on Saturday that this team has shown me time and time again to be a very resilient group. They don’t just lay down and they come back fighting. It was a tough loss on Saturday and we played great today.

On his diminutive 9-hole hitter Keith Werman:
Keith Werman is is a gutty player and he is winning over the hearts of the people of Omaha, he’s just a special, special player.

9-hole hitter Keith Werman has wielded a hot bat in Omaha so far.

On changing up his lineup for today’s game:
I wrote out about six different lineups last night and the one we went with today wasn’t even one of them. Jerrett Parker (Saturday’s leadoff hitter) has struggled a bit and he’ll come out of it, but we had to move him down. I wanted a good righty-lefty combo. The right things worked for us.

On whether it has sunk in that he has won here at the College World Series:
It has, I know how big of a deal this is. But I’m happy for these guys. It’s no question that it’s better as a player in the College World Series. You only get to wear that uniform once. It’s hit me. It’s hit the players too and you just move on. To see them bounce back today, that’s pretty special.

Andrew Carraway on being in the reliever role today:
I came out of the pen all year my second year, but in this post-season it’s a little bit different because i know we have so many good arms behind me, Matt Packer and Kevin Arico. So it’s pretty comforting to know my job is to get as many outs as possible, because I’ve got guys behind me to help me out.

This is a big win for our program, but nobody looks at it that way because we are so loose and relaxed. To win a game in Omaha is a huge accomplishment, but we know there’s more.

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GAME SIX.
Conditions At Gametime:
78 degrees, overcast skies, wind from the south at 13mph, 65% humidity.

Javi Sanchez gives Mikie Mahtook the home run handoff. And why not, tonight LSU posted another football score.

L.S.U – 310 005 000 – 9 13 0
UofA – 100 000 000 – 1 9 2

WP: Louis Coleman (14-2)
LP: Brett Eibner (5-5)
Sv: none

Top Hitters.
LSU:
The home run hitters.
Mikie Mahtook, 1-for-3
Austin Nola, 2-for-4
Blake Dean, 1-for-3, HR, 2BBs

Arkansas:
Ben Tschepikow, 2-for-4, 2 doubles
Scott Lyons, 2-for-4
Andy Wilkins, 1-for-3, RBI

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In A Nutshell:
You know how in pro football they call cold weather in the Windy City as “Bear Weather”? Well with the winds blowing out and the humidity fairly high – and the Razorbacks not exactly having a deep staff – this was “Tiger Weather” for LSU. And they didn’t waste any time marking this as their territory either. Five batters into the game Mikie Mahtook, a frosh, sent a screamer over the left field wall and put the Tigers up 3-zip.

LSU added home runs from Austin Nola and Blake Dean in the 6th, pushing the lead to 7-1. The Bayou Bashers picked up two more runs in the frame, from a Jared Mitchell single and Chase Levitt throwing error. From there the track meet was on.

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Key Moment:
In the 3rd inning, the Razorbacks had a three-run deficit to make up and pushed the bases loaded. Dave Van Horn then inserted Jacob House as a pinch hitter for No. 7 hitter Andrew Darr. LSU pitcher Louis Coleman was able to strike him out with three pitches.

Louis Coleman was on his game again tonight.

The Hogs never threatened LSU’s lead again.

.QUOTES.

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn
Opening Statement:
You have to give credit to Louis Coleman. He was outstanding. They got a three-run home run with two outs. They scored another run in the second inning with two outs. We felt we were still in the game, we were getting runners on base, just not driving them in. The good thing is we get another chance to redeem ourselves on Wednesday.

On the missed opportunity early:
We were down 4-1 with the bases loaded and we didn’t get the hit. We didn’t even hit the ball hard. If we get the hit, we’re right in there.

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LSU coach Paul Mainieri
Opening statement:
I thought it was a really outstanding effort in a lot of ways. I had a feeling we’d come come out and play well today. These kids are focused. It’s a coaches dream right now, with the way these guys are conducting themselves. They’re a very confident group right now.

On his team’s hitting:
Our pitching has been pretty consistent all year, as well as our defense. Our hitting, at times, has been awesome and at times has been not so good. Tonight you saw what we’re capable of. It seemed like everyone was throwing up some good at-bats tonight.

Blake Dean on the mix of this LSU team:
To have such a veteran team and then to have these young guys step up, the young guys bring the fire while the veterans tend to go with the flow. As veterans we try to calm them down.

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OTHER NOTES.

TITANS PLAYING UN-TITAN-LIKE.
Fullerton hasn’t quite been the same since the 2004 national championship team. This is the second straight two-and-out trip for Cal State Fullerton. In 2007, the Titans lost two quick games, one to North Carolina and the elimination game to UC Irvine (who at the time was coached by Dave Serrano). Also, in 2005 CSUF went 2-2 in the NCAA tournament. So for the last five seasons they’ve gone just 2-6 in CWS games.

BEST LINE I’VE SEEN IN ANY PAPER.
The front page of the Omaha World Herald Sports page today was all College World Series stuff. In small print at the bottom of the page was this…
“Sports, Page 3C. The Los Angeles Lakers capture the franchise’s 15th NBA world championship with a 99-86 win over Orlando.”

Yes! That’s one of my favorite things about coming to Omaha, for one time a year I wake up to a newspaper that buries NBA basketball and puts our sport front and center.

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BIGGEST HIT OF THE SERIES FOR FULLERTON.
In Sunday’s practice at Belleview East High School, Jared Clark sent a batting practice ball out well beyond the outfield wall and straight into the windshield of a passing car. Turns out that the driver of the car was an LSU fan. But he was happy to receive a signed baseball and a handshake for his troubles.

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PITCHING AGAINST HIS OLD TEAMMATES.
Arkansas reliever T.J. Forrest came on in relief of Eibner tonight to face his old team. Forrest went to LSU as a freshman and pitched sparingly. He transfered to Bossier Parish C.C. and had an all-conference season. He then transfered to the Razorbacks for his junior year. Today, he might’ve wished he stayed a Tiger, giving up two home runs among his four hits and three runs.

T.J. Forrest got the strikeout of Micah Gibbs here, but didn't fare so well the rest of the way.

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ARKANSAS BEAT WRITERS QUANDRY.
Sitting near the Arkansas scribes I heard one of them ask another tonight during the LSU blowout, “Who do you cheer for if LSU plays Texas? That’s a choice no Arkansas fan wants to make.”