LSU tops UNO in 15 innings

• By SCOTT RABALAIS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 14, 2008 - UPDATED: 9:23 a.m.

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METAIRIE - The two hottest teams in college baseball battled from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning before one was able to extinguish the other.

Finally, more than five hours after LSU and UNO started playing, the Tigers came out on top. Sean Ochinko's RBI single to left field in the bottom of the 15th inning made LSU a 7-6 winner in one of the longest games in school history.

The Tigers are now owners of the longest active winning streak in the nation, a distinction the Privateers held going into Tuesday's game at Zephyr Field. The game was billed as the fifth annual Wally Pontiff Jr. Foundation Baseball Classic.

No. 16-ranked LSU has won 13 straight to run its record to 36-16-1.

No. 22 UNO fell to 38-14 after seeing its 13-game winning streak - the nation's longest active streak coming in - snapped at last. It was the Privateers first loss since April 20.

"Thank God it's over," Ochinko said of his reaction to his winning hit. "I hit it hard and saw that it trickled through."

The game lasted 5 hours and 14 minutes and was one inning short of tying the record for the longest game in LSU history. The last time the Tigers played one longer than this was 1996, when they lost a 16-inning contest to Florida.

This game tied for the second-longest in UNO history. The Privateers played 17 innings in 2003 against Arkansas-Little Rock.

"It was a game for the ages," LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. "I'm at a loss for words, really."

While Mainieri was happy to win again, he acknowledged a marathon game wasn't what either team wanted to play at a crucial point in both their seasons.

LSU left from here to bus through the early morning hours to Auburn, Ala., where it will open a season-ending three-game series Thursday. The Tigers, 15-11-1 in the SEC, have a magic number of 2 to clinch the Western Division title.

UNO, which is 18-8 in the Sun Belt Conference, opens a three-game season-ending series Thursday at Louisiana-Lafayette. The Privateers need to win two of three games to claim the conference championship.

"Our players are banged up," Mainieri said as third baseman Michael Hollander limped past the dugout, ice packs taped to both knees. "Hopefully we can tape them up for this weekend."