Extra effort

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jun 23, 2009

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OMAHA, Neb. — It’s hard to imagine LSU center fielder Mikie Mahtook could have been more out of sync or out of luck than he was in his first four at-bats Monday night when the Tigers and Texas tangled in the opening game of the College World Series national championship series.

Three at-bats, three ugly strikeouts. One more trip to the batter’s box ended with a frustrating double-play groundout.

Not to mention a battle with cramps that nearly forced him to the bench for the rest of the game and required a between-innings IV.

But LSU’s DJ LeMahieu made sure Mahtook and the rest of the Tigers got a last chance to make amends by providing one huge spark after another and that was finally enough.

With a script topped maybe only by the one Warren Morris lived out in 1996, LSU got off the mat with a two-run ninth inning to forge a tie and then pushed across a run in the 11th to clip Texas 7-6 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

With the victory the Tigers (55-16) seized command in the battle of two college baseball heavyweights sharing center stage for the crescendo of the 2009 season.

To take that giant step, LSU stole some thunder from Texas (49-15-1).

In two earlier CWS victories, the Longhorns prevailed dramatically in the bottom of the ninth inning — most recently with two solo home runs against Arizona State to secure a spot in the finals.

This time all the late magic belonged to the Tigers.

“That was probably the most courageous, never-say-die, just resilient effort that I’ve ever seen out of one my teams in 27 years of coaching,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said.

“Now we get to play for the national championship. Wow! Those are pretty cool words.”

Mahtook shared the role of star with LeMahieu and freshman closer Matty Ott, who logged three scoreless innings when every pitch loomed large.

Ott (4-2) survived a leadoff hit batsman in the ninth and a two-out walk in the 10th to send the game to the 11th, and that’s when LeMahieu and Mahtook found a way to end things.