OMAHA, Neb. -- Two of the most dominating teams in recent College World Series history are going to battle for the 2009 championship next week.
LSU and Texas both finished undefeated in their four-team double-elimination brackets Friday night to set up what should be a very exciting best-of-three championship round at the 2009 College World Series.
LSU earned a trip to the finals with an impressive offensive performance, dominating SEC rival Arkansas after a long rain delay and hand the Razorbacks a 12-5 defeat.
While the afternoon affair looked to be a one-sided battle, the evening game provided plenty of great pitching, defense and late-game dramatics. Arizona State broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the ninth, only to see top-seeded Texas hit a pair of solo homers in the bottom of the ninth to come away with an incredible 4-3 win over the Sun Devils.
In the first game, the third-seeded Tigers continued their impressive offensive performance, hitting four home runs off Razorback hurlers to power their way to the win. Blake Dean, Jared Mitchell and Ryan Schimpf all hit solo home runs, and Tyle Hanover added a two-run blast in the ninth to help LSU to the easy win.
The Tigers have been an offensive juggernaut in this year's College World Series, averaging more than 10 runs a game. That was more than the Arkansas pitching staff could handle, and while Chase Leavitt went 3-for-5 with three RBI's on the day, it wasn't nearly enough to keep the Razorbacks in the hunt and force a second bracket final game on Saturday.
Arizona State and Texas hooked up in a dandy nighttime affair at Rosenblatt Stadium. Both starting pitchers -- Arizona State's Mike Leake and the Longhorns' Cole Green -- pitched very well throughout the night and kept the opposing teams' bats fairly quiet for much of the evening.
The intensity of a close matchup exploded in the ninth, however. Arizona State, needing a win to force a deciding game in the double-elimination bracket, broke a 2-2 tie when Zach Wilson tripled down the right field line, scoring Jason Kipnis.
It looked as if the Sun Devils would win this one, but much as they did in their previous meeting -- erasing a 6-0 deficit with 12 unanswered runs -- the top-seeded Longhorns did their counterparts one better.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Cameron Rupp came up and launched a homer to center field, tying the game at 3-3. It looked as if this one was headed to extra innings, but with two out in the bottom of the ninth, Connor Rowe sent a shot into the bleachers in left field, bringing his teammates out of the dugout in celebration as he circled the bases with the game-winning home run.
So now it's Texas and LSU, with a combined 11 championships, meeting up to determine who will commence the celebratory dogpile as the 2009 College World Series champions. The first game of the best-of-three series is scheduled for Monday at 6 pm., with the second game to be held Tuesday at 6 p.m. If a third game is needed, it will be held Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Rosenblatt Stadium.
Get great seats for the College World Series best-of-three championship finals right now at Ticket Express -- where no College World Series game is ever sold out.
College World Series Schedule, Results
(All times CDT)
Saturday, June 13
Game 1 -- Arkansas 10, Cal State Fullerton 6
Game 2 -- LSU 9, Virginia 5
Sunday, June 14
Game 3 -- Arizona State 5, North Carolina 2 (10 inn.)
Game 4 -- Texas 7, Southern Miss 6
Monday, June 15
Game 5 -- Virginia 7, Cal State Fullerton 5 (CSF eliminated)
Game 6 -- LSU 9, Arkansas 1
Tuesday, June 16
Game 7 -- North Carolina 11, Southern Miss 4 (Southern Miss eliminated)
Game 8 -- Texas 10, Arizona State 6
Wednesday, June 17
Game 9 -- Arkansas 4, Virginia 3 12 inn. (Virginia eliminated)
Thursday, June 18
Game 10 -- Arizona State 12, North Carolina 5 (North Carolina eliminated)
Friday, June 19
Game 11 -- LSU 12, Arkansas 5 (Arkansas eliminated)
Game 12 -- Texas 4, Arizona State 3 (Arizona State eliminated)
Monday, June 22
Championship Game 1 -- LSU (54-16) vs. Texas (49-14-1), 6 p.m.
Tuesday, June 23
Championship Game 2 -- LSU vs. Texas, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, June 24
Championship Game 3 -- LSU vs. Texas, 6 p.m. (If necessary)
