THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Ya’ know, there’s a reason I go to nearly 60 college baseball games a year, because of discovering games like tonight. Two teams full of gutty, inspired, never-say-die baseball players playing the game to the last out. That’s college baseball. And THAT’s what we saw tonight between what I’d like to call two championship teams.

The LSU bench explodes after the game-winning run crossed the plate.

In the end, LSU pulled a “Texas” on the Longhorns, grabbing an unlikely victory from the hands of defeat in dramatic, 11-inning, 7-6 fashion, similar to what UT has been doing to people all week so far. I don’t use the word awesome often, but that was awesome.

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GAME 13.
Conditions At Gametime:
93 degrees, 107 degree heat index, 60% humidity, winds from the South at 9mph.

L.S.U. – 100 002 102 01 – 7 11 0
Texas – 000 302 100 00 – 6 9 1

WP- Matty Ott (4-2)
LP- Brandon Workman (3-4)
Sv- None

Top Hitters.
LSU:
D.J. LeMahieu, 2-for-4, 3RBI
Mikie Mahtook, 2-for-6, RBI
Jared Mitchell, 2-for-6, 2RBI, triple.

UT:
Russell Muldenhauer, 3-for-3, 2HRs, 3RBI
Kevin Keyes, 2-for-3, HR, RBI

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In A Nutshell:
Think Ali-Frazier. Think Tyson-Holyfield. Think Louis vs. Schmeling (I hear ya’, “Who?” Google it.) This was two heavyweights going to the 15th round and throwing haymakers at each other. Stumble-kneed and mouse-eyed, this one was a proverbial knock-down, drag-out, along with being one of the more beautifully played games and high-drama endings I’ve seen in… well, three days.

Yes, that just goes to show you how this year’s CWS is delivering us some big time white-knucklers people. And you gotta love it too.

Tonight we saw LSU, trailing 6-4 and down to its final out of the game in the top half of the 9th inning, came up bonzai when D.J. LeMaheiu sliced a double to the wall, scoring two runs to send the game into extra frames. Then, in the 11th, Mikie Mahtook, saddled with an 0-for-4 start and a bad case of leg cramps, gallantly dug deep enough with a gut-wrenching clutch swing to knock in the winning run on an RBI single in the 11th.

Mikie likes it! Mahtook smacks the game-winning hit in the 11th inning.

Matty Ott, the freshman with cool hand Luke-like nerves, slammed the door with another hitless frame, sending the Tigers to within 27 outs of winning another national title.

So if you want to say that Texas blinked in this late-inning stand-off, then okay. The Longhorns, who had made a living by overcoming their mistakes all week, allowed two walks, a stolen base and committed a crushing throwing error in the 11th inning to set up Mahtook’s heroics. Prior to that, neither team had even committed an error. But after Mahtook knocked in LeMahieu with the go-ahead run, Matty Ott completed the lock-down job the LSU bullpen started back in the 7th inning by getting the final three outs of the game and putting LSU in the driver’s seat.

Matty Ott had another gritty lockdown effort in relief. The guy's a machine.

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Key Moment:
- The only error of the game.
D.J. LeMahieu attempted a steal of second base in the 11th inning, but probably would’ve been tagged out if not for UT catcher Cameron Rupp throwing wildly on the relay. The ball went into center field and LeMahieu scampered on to 3rd base. Two batters later Mahtook delivered his game-winner with a single to right.

As D.J. LeMahieu appears to be a dead duck at 2nd on this 11th inning steal attempt, Cameron Rupp's throw goes into center field, putting LeMahieu on 3rd base instead of in the books as a caught stealing.

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Key Stat:
- 0.
That’s the number of hits Texas got in the last five innings of LSU relief.
For all the guff that the Tiger bullpen received at times this year, there was certainly no arguing it tonight. The impressive LSU relief corps of Chad Jones, Paul Bertuccini and Matty Ott tossed 5.0 impressive innings, and didn’t allow Texas a single hit during that impressive span. Have I used the word “impressive” enough to get the thought across? I hope so, because they also combined to strike out four and allowed a pair of walks. And no more.

Here, both Kevin Keyes and Russell Muldenhauer celebrate a Muldy home run. Curiously, both guys hit home runs, but both power bats were replaced in the latter innings of the game. Hmmmm.

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QUOTES.

LSU head coach Paul Mainieri
= Opening Statement:
It’s hard to describe your emotions after a game like that but I’ll try anyway. That was the most courageous, never-say-die, resilient efforts that I have seen from one of my teams in 27 years of coaching. It was one for the ages. It was a great ballgame. That was the definition of team effort. I never felt we were out of the ballgame because the environment lent itself to coming back and winning the game. Wow. Our kids confidence just keeps growing with every game we win.

- On the quality of his bullpen tonight:
Matty Ott was a real key to this game. He came in and tossed three shutout innings including closing them down in the 11th inning. Our bullpen has been maligned this season and I’m not sure it has been deserved. Our bullpen has been a great asset over the last three months of the season.

- On what his team will take from this:
That was the definition of team effort. If you want to define team effort, mark this day down in your calendars because that was a great team effort right there. This will be what I refer to when I talk to my future teams.

- When asked about playing for the national championship:
People kept coming up to me this weekend and saying, “You’re going to play for the national championship.” And I kept saying, “No, we’ve got to win a game first, THEN we’ll play for the national championship.” (he pauses…) Wow, that’s some pretty cool words to actually say right now.

But really, we’ve drilled it into these guys heads to take everything one game at a time. I’m sure there’s not a single player on our team that thinks “We’ve only got to win one of the next two” they’re just going to go out tomorrow and think about winning that game.

- When I asked him for a one-word answer if this game was better than the 2002 Notre Dame rally to beat Rice or the 2008 Super Regional comeback win over UC Irvine:
(long pause…) One word? (laughs) Well okay, I’ll give it to you, YES. This was biggest win I’ve ever had. Those other wins were great too, it’s hard for me to compare them Eric. I’ve been fortunate to have some great games over the years and you savor all the wins, but this one was very sweet though. I’m SO proud of these kids.

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Mikie Mahtook
- Talking about when he cramped up in the outfield in the middle of the game:
Yeah I cramped up pretty bad. But after that inning I came in and got an IV, so I didn’t have any problems after that.

- On the game-winning hit:
He (Workman) tried to bury another curve ball that he’d been throwing all game long, so I sat back and waited for it and then got my hands up right away when it came.

-nOn playing for the national title at LSU:
We both (he and Matty Ott) grew up being LSU fans from the 91 national championship all through the years up until now, so this experience has really been a dream come true for both of us.

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Reliever Matty Ott
- On his longer relief stint tonight:
I kind of always told myself, I need to make sure to be able to throw more than 2 or 3 innings. I always made sure to keep myself in good condition because I never know when I’m going to be needed for more than 2 or 3 innings. So that’s where our lifting program comes into play and why I always try to run one more wind sprint in practice, to be ready for these situations.

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Texas coach Augie Garrido
- Opening Statement:
It was an incredible game, two teams that were doing unbelievable things to win that game. You knew that the team that lost was going to feel the wrath of baseball. We became that loser and it’s up to us to refocus and be ready for tomorrow’s game. It was an incredible performance by both teams in my opinion.

- On his pitching moves tonight:
In hindsight, if I could take the cards back, I might do that. The decisions that I made in managing the pitching did not work out. They did a great job of hitting our mistakes. The scores that tied the game were with two outs and the winning run was with two outs, that’s where experience and confidence comes into play. And that’s what they had tonight.

- On what he told his team after the game:
What we said to them is stuff that belongs between our team. But really, it’s about how to handle the loss and what we need to do . We’ve played with the spirit of a champion for a long time now. It takes courage to get out there and take that risk. Plus, it’s a 2-out-of-3 series, Georgia wiped out Fresno in the first game last year and had a five-run lead on them in the second game, but they still came back to win, so all things are possible.

- On the effort of his team:
The performance was pretty darn good. The problem was the loss. The team that wins doesn’t go back and nit-pick everything. The losing team usually does. If you don’t nit-pick everything when you lose, you have a better chance to come back and win the next day.

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Russell Moldenhauer
- on his home runs:
I was just feeling good, relaxed and seeing the ball well. I put a good swing on it. And when you put a good swing on, good things usually happen. And they did for me tonight.

- On how the team got this power surge:
We got it because we’re not playing at Disch-Falk Field. That’s a monster park. It’s where fly balls go to die. But the field here just plays to how we’re hitting right now.

- On what the team needs to do to come back and win tomorrow:
We need to forget about it all and go play baseball like we did when we were 12 years old.

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Starting pitcher Chance Ruffin
- On if cramps had to do with his being pulled:
My calf was cramping, but I was going to fight through it. I never got asked how I was feeling it was just a decision that was made.

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NOTES OF NOTE
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TIGER WEATHER.
Conditions couldn’t have been better for LSU with hot temperatures, high humidity and a breeze that was blowing out.

At 93 degrees and a 107 degree heat index, this was by far the hottest day of this year’s College World Series. So gorilla ball was on the menu for sure.

And isn’t that just like Omaha to welcome the numerous Tiger fans with accommodating weather for their baseball team? Nebraskans are so nice.

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MAKE THAT LONGHORN WEATHER.
It was UT’s power strokes that got the crowd going early for the Horns. Wit their three home runs in the 4th inning marked the first time since the 1998 LSU Gorillaballers turned the trick vs. Mississippi State on June 1st of that year. This game also saw UT hit five home runs in all. In fact, during the latter stages of the game, I got a text from the Professor of College Baseball, Glenn Tanner, that said, “Potential stat of the night: Texas is 0-1 when they hit five home runs or more.”

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PITCHING MATCHUPS FOR TOMORROW.
Texas knows who’ll throw. LSU doesn’t have an idea.

Augie said in the post-game, “Taylor (Jungmann) is going to start tomorrow and he knows that. Tonight we put him in a situation that he was not comfortable in and that’s my fault for doing that.”

Coach Mainieri wasn’t so sure about his mound starter, “I’m going to have to sleep on it. I ‘m not really sure at this moment who I’m going to throw. I’m not trying to keep it from anybody or play games. I’ll have to see how Ranaudo feels, he’s never pitched on just three days rest. So we’ll see.”

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DINGERVILLE.
The seven combined homers (five by Texas, two by LSU) broke the championship series single game record which as four, set by Fresno and Georgia last season on June 23rd. The seven home runs was also the most in any CWS game since June 9, 2001 when USC and Georgia combined for seven.

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FREE BASEBALL.
Tonight’s game is the third extra inning game of this year’s CWS, which is the most extra-inning games since 1994. The record of four was set twice, in 1960 and 1972.

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LSU NOT OUT OF THE WOODS IN THE LEAST.
Two of the last three national champions have lost their first game of the championship series and still went on to win the brass ring, 2006 Oregon State and 2008 Fresno State.

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PERFECT, FOR NOW.
LSU is one win away from finishing the entire NCAA tournament unbeaten. The last time a team went through unscathed was in 2001 when Miami turned the trick. Since the inception of the championship series, no team has made it through the NCAAs without at least one loss.

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NOT TO JINX IT, BUT…
LSU still has yet to commit an error in the CWS. No NCAA champion has even gone through Omaha without committing a single error. (And don’t worry, I don’t believe in jinxes, so it’s okay)

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NOT TEXAS-LIKE.
Tonight’s loss was the first time all season that the Longhorns have lost a game after taking a lead into the 9th inning.

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NO MORE POWER OUTAGE FOR UT.
Of the 27 runs the Longhorns have scored here in Omaha, 13 of them have been direct bi-products of home runs.

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LOTS OF WOOD.
With tonight’s appearance, Austin Wood now has 40 appearances on the season, tying him with Jason Stoffel of Arizona for the national lead.

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PLAYER AWARDS.
In case you guys missed it this week, here are some of the national awards that were handed out this week.

- The Brooks Wallace Award, given to the nation’s best shortstop:
Ben Orloff, UC Irvine.

- College Baseball Foundation Pitcher of the Year Award:
Stephen Strasburg, San Diego State

- Lowe’s Senior Class Award, given to the best senior in the country:
Brandon McArthur, Florida

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Damn, with these four-hour games we’re getting at Rosenblatt this year, it’s been a marathon to actually sit through them all. I sympathize with those of you sitting at home trying to watch from beginning to end. And it also makes for some really late nights for yours truly, as you could imagine.

So I’ll post more pictures from Day one of the title series tomorrow. Think you’ll dig ‘em too.

For now…

G’night.