Wednesday, Jun. 24, 2009

Bayou Bengals win NCAA title

Big sixth inning lifts LSU to its sixth national crown

OMAHA, Neb. — LSU's down cycle is over.

A program that two years ago wasn't good enough to qualify for its conference tournament is the best team in college baseball again.

The Tigers won their sixth national title Wednesday night, breaking open Game 3 of the College World Series finals with a five-run sixth inning that carried them to an 11-4 victory over Texas.

Jared Mitchell hit a three-run homer in the first inning as LSU (56-17) built a 4-0 lead. Texas (50-16-1) pulled even, but Mikie Mahtook's tie-breaking double ignited the Tigers' big sixth against the mistake-prone Longhorns.

"It's an unbelievable feeling to be put in the position where you're remembered forever in Baton Rouge now," said Mitchell, voted the CWS Most Outstanding Player. "To be in that company with the players who won championships, to put LSU baseball on top where it belongs, to be a part of that is special."

Mitchell added to the title he earned as a wide receiver on the 2007 LSU team that won the BCS championship. Earlier this month, he was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the first round.

"It's everybody pulling together, a sense of urgency we had, and we began to play our best ball at the end of the year," he said.

It was the first national title for 51-year-old coach Paul Mainieri.

"I'm so happy for these kids, said coach Paul Mainieri. "They played great. They played great defense. Our pitching has been solid all year. When we got to the end of the season everyone was determined they would get it done. It's been a coach's dream to have a group like this."