LSU blows past Texas for sixth national title

• 2theadvocate.com staff report
• Published: Jun 24, 2009 - UPDATED: 10:20 p.m.

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OMAHA, Neb. -- LSU claimed its sixth baseball national title with an 11-4 victory tonight against Texas in the decisive game of the College World Series championship series at Rosenblatt Stadium.

A five-run sixth inning was the impetus as the Tiger program finished the decade the way it started it -- with an NCAA championship.

In his third season as LSU's head coach, Paul Mainieri claimed his first national crown after two previous misses at the College World Series. The Tigers are now tied with Texas for the second-most national baseball championships, trailing only the University of Southern California (12).

One night after being benched, Sean Ochinko went 4-for-5 with a home run and three runs batted in for No. 3 national seed LSU (56-17), which beat the No. 1 national seed to take the crown.

Senior Louis Coleman closed it out on the mound for the Tigers, working the final two innings. Coleman struck out Texas' Connor Rowe swinging on a 1-2 frisbee slider for the final out, then fired his glove in the air and wait for the obligatory dogpile to begin.

After a 5-1 loss Tuesday set up tonight's winner-take-all showdown, the Tigers jumped out early against Texas (50-16-1) but needed the big sixth inning to regain control.

Mikie Mahtook broke a 4-all tie with a go-ahead, RBI double off Texas reliever Brandon Workman (3-5). Derek Helenihi followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Tigers a 6-4 edge.

LSU loaded the bases and pushed across another run to go ahead 7-4 when Blake Dean was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Then Ochinko delivered a two-run RBI single to give the Tigers a 9-4 cushion.

Ryan Schimpf added a sacrifice fly in the eighth and Ochinko added a leadoff homer in the ninth.

A big first inning helped LSU to a quick start. Jared Mitchell's two-out, three-run homer inside the right-field foul pole gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead.

LSU added a run in the second as Ryan Schimpf's RBI single made it 4-0.

Texas scored twice in the third and tied it at 4 in the fifth on Kevin Keyes' two-run homer.

Anthony Ranaudo (12-3) picked up the victory despite not having his best stuff. Ranaudo allowed four earned runs, eight hits and tied a season high with five walks. But he hung in long enough to depart with a five-run lead after recording the first out of the sixth.